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GENERAL   VIEW 


POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  EUROPE 


OF  THE 


POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  EUROPE 


BY 

ERNEST    LAVISSE 

PROFESSOR  AT  THE  80RBONNB 


TRANSLATED  WITH   THE  AUTHOR'S  SANCTION  BY 

CHARLES  GROSS,    PH.D. 

1NBTBUCTOB  IN  HISTORY,  HABVABD  UNIVEBSITT 


NEW  YORK 
LONGMANS,     GREEN,    AND    CO. 

15  BAST  SIXTEENTH    STREET 
1891 


COPYRIGHT,  1891,  BY 
CHARLES  GROSS 


TROW  DIRECTORY 

PRINTING  UNO  BOOKBINDING  COMPA 
NIW  YORK 


TRANSLATOR'S   PREFACE. 


THE  title  of  Professor  Lavisse's  work  is  Vue 
Generate  de  VHistoire  Politique  de  ^Europe, 
(Third  edition.  Paris  :  Armand  Colin  &  Co.  1890.) 
While  giving  the  essential  facts  of  universal  his- 
tory, he  aims,  above  all,  to  describe  the  formation 
and  political  development  of  the  states  of  Europe, 
and  to  indicate  the  historical  causes  of  their  pres- 
ent condition  and  mutual  relations.  In  other 
words,  he  shows  how  the  existing  political  divi- 
sions of  Europe,  with  their  peculiar  tendencies, 
were  created.  To  accomplish  this,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  begin  with  the  history  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  which  played  an  important  part  in  Europe 
long  after  their  death ;  then,  to  show  the  potent 
influence  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  and  of  the 
Papacy  in  the  Middle  Ages ;  next,  to  point  out 
how  these  two  great  ideal  powers  were  superseded 
by  modern  Europe,  an  organic  entity  composed  of 
various  states,  new  and  old,  most  of  which  were 
dominated  by  the  monarchical  idea ;  and,  finally, 
how,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  the  new  principle 


iv  Translator's  Preface. 

of  nationality  and  the  power  of  the  people  have 
supplanted  the  old  monarchical  element.  The 
ability  of  Professor  Lavisse  to  compress  the  es- 
sence of  a  great  event  or  sequence  of  events  into  a 
few  comprehensive  and  expressive  sentences,  has 
enabled  him  to  accomplish  his  difficult  task  with 
signal  success.  At  any  rate,  this  is  the  opinion  of 
the  Translator,  and  hence  he  believes  that  the 
work  will  prove  useful  to  general  readers,  as  well 
as  to  college  students,  in  America  and  England. 

The  Translator  has  attempted  to  adhere  as  closely 
to  the  original  as  the  English  idiom  permits.  He 
has,  however,  taken  the  liberty  to  divide  the  work 
into  chapters  and  sections,  and  to  make  some 
slight  changes  in  the  titles  of  the  sections ;  he  has 
also  added  an  Index. 

He  desires  to  express  his  thanks  to  the  friends 
who  have  kindly  aided  him  with  suggestions, 
especially  to  Professor  A.  B.  Hart,  of  Harvard 
College,  and  Professor  A.  Gr.  Canfield,  of  Kansas 
State  University. 

CAMBRIDGE,  MASS. 
October  1,  1891. 


AUTHOR'S   PREFACE. 


a  writer  presents  to  the  public  a  General 
View  of  the  Political  History  of  Europe*  he  ex- 
poses himself  to  the  reproach  of  having  under- 
taken too  much.  We  know,  at  the  present  day, 
the  trouble  and  care  that  are  necessary  to  establish 
the  truth  of  a  single  fact.  How,  then,  can  any- 
one aspire  to  deal  with  the  great  mass  of  facts 
that  make  up  the  political  history  of  Europe  ? 

The  historians  who,  nevertheless,  venture  to 
treat  such  subjects,  can  say  in  their  defence  that 
if  the  details  are  often  doubtful,  the  leading  facts 
are  not.  We  do  not  know  with  complete  certainty 
the  inner  motives  of  Luther's  revolt,  and  there  are 
obscurities  in  the  history  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo ; 
but  it  is  certain  that  Luther  revolted,  and  that  the 
battle  of  Waterloo  was  lost  by  Napoleon.  Now 

*  The  idea  of  this  volume  was  suggested  to  me  by  a  preface  which  I 
wrote  in  1886  for  the  translation  of  one  of  Mr.  Freeman's  books  (His- 
torical Geography  of  Europe,  by  Edward  A.  Freeman,  translated  by 
Mr.  Gustave  Lefevre,  under  the  title,  Histoire  Generate  de  V Europe  par 
la  Geographie  Politique.  Paris:  Armand  Colin  &  Co.).  It  seemed  to 
me  that  it  might  be  useful  to  expand  this  first  undertaking  into  a  book. 


vi  Author's  Preface. 

these  two  events  had  results  that  are  very  clear 
and  very  important. 

Decisive  events,  those  that  can  be  said  to  belong 
to  universal  history,  are  rare.  It  is  not  impossible 
to  discern  them,  to  understand  them,  and  to  per- 
ceive their  results.  It  is  for  this  reason,  paradox- 
ical as  the  opinion  may  seem,  that  the  generic  in 
history  is  more  certain  than  the  specific.  It  is 
easier  to  be  deceived  concerning  a  person  than  con- 
cerning a  whole  country.  The  view  that  fails  to 
distinguish  individual  trees  takes  in  the  whole  for- 
est ;  the  vastest  horizons  are  the  clearest.  Never- 
theless, an  attempt,  like  the  present,  to  sketch  in  a 
few  pages  the  history  of  so  many  centuries,  is  not 
wholly  devoid  of  peril.  Certain  opinions  and 
judgments  that  are  briefly  expressed  may  aston- 
ish, perhaps  even  offend,  the  reader. 

Let  me  also  beg  him  to  choose  carefully  his 
point  of  view  in  this  stretch  of  three  thousand 
years.  We  are  tempted  to  exaggerate  certain 
facts,  because,  for  our  own  special  reasons,  they 
arouse  our  interest  more  than  others.  We  are  bet- 
ter acquainted  with  ancient  history  and  with  the 
centuries  of  the  Renaissance,  of  Louis  XIV.,  and 
of  Voltaire,  than  with  the  Middle  Ages  and  the 
nineteenth  century.  This  is  one  of  the  effects  of 
our  education.  Nevertheless,  in  the  Middle  Ages 
were  formed  the  rudiments  of  the  nations,  whose 
development  has  been  completed  in  the  course  of 


Author's  Preface.  vii 

the  present  century.  These  two  periods  are  thus 
the  most  important  in  the  history  of  Europe — I 
mean  political  history,  properly  speaking. 

This  volume  presents  the  sequence  of  the  great 
phenomena  of  history,  and  it  also  attempts  to  give 
the  how  of  things.  It  would  be  well  to  add  the 
why,  if  it  were  not  too  bold  an  undertaking. 

Nature  has  written  on  the  map  of  Europe  the 
destiny  of  certain  regions.  She  determines  the  apti- 
tudes and,  hence,  the  destiny  of  a  people.  The  very 
movement  of  events  in  history  creates,  moreover,  in- 
evitable exigencies,  one  thing  happening  because 
other  things  have  happened.  On  the  other  hand, 
nature  has  left,  on  the  map  of  Europe,  free  scope 
to  the  uncertainty  of  various  possibilities.  His- 
tory is  full  of  accidents,  the  necessity  of  which  can- 
not be  demonstrated.  Finally,  there  exists  free 
power  of  action,  which  has  been  exercised  by  indi- 
viduals and  nations. 

Chance  and  freedom  of  action  oppose  alike  the 
fatality  of  nature  and  the  fatality  of  historical 
sequence.  To  what  extent  each  of  these  four 
elements  has  influenced  history  cannot  be  deter- 
mined with  exactness.  Still  it  may  be  interest- 
ing, at  least,  to  attempt  to  accomplish  something 
in  this  direction.  My  little  volume  invites  the 
reader  to  make  such  an  attempt. 

One  word  more.  I  have  done  my  best  to  guard 
myself  against  the  prejudices  of  patriotism,  and  I 


viii  Author's  Preface. 

believe  that  I  have  not  exaggerated  the  place  of 
France  in  the  world's  history.  But  the  reader 
will  find  that,  in  the  conflict  between  the  opposing 
factors  of  history,  France  is  the  most  formidable 
adversary  of  the  fatality  of  historical  sequence.  A 
century  ago  she  placed  herself  athwart  the  course 
of  European  events,  and  precipitated  it  into  a  new 
direction.  At  the  present  day  we  feel  a  formidable 
fatality  weighing  upon  the  Continent  of  Europe ; 
hence  this  book  closes  with  some  pessimistic  pre- 
dictions. But  it  points  out  in  its  last  pages,  that 
if  the  discord  which  is  arming  Europe,  and  threat- 
ens to  ruin  her,  can  be  appeased,  it  will  be  done  by 
the  spirit  of  France. 

ERNEST  LAVISSE. 

January,  1890. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
ANCIENT  HISTORY. 

PAGES 

§  1.    General  Characteristics 1-2 

§  2.     Greece 2-4 

§  3.     The  Roman  Dominion 4-7 

§  4.    Division  into  Two  Empires 7-8 

§  5.    Causes  of  the  Fall  of  Rome 8-10 

CHAPTER  II. 
TRANSITION  TO  MEDLEY AL  HISTORY. 

§  1.     General  Characteristics 11-12 

§  2.     The  Empire  of  the  East 13-15 

§  3.    The  Western  Barbarians  and  the  Church       .        .        .  15-18 

§4.    The  Franks 18-21 

§  5.     Restoration  of  the  Empire 21-25 

§  6.     The  Historical  World  in  the  Year  800     ....  25-26 

§  7.    Historical  Effects  of  the  Restoration  of  the  Empire       .  26-29 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

§  1.    General  Characteristics 30-33 

§  2.     The  Empire  of  the  East 33-37 

§  3.    The  Empire  of  the  West 37-38 

§  4.    Empire  and  Church — Consequences  for  Germany  .        .  38-40 


x  Contents. 

PAGES 

§  5.     Consequences  for  Italy 41^43 

§  6.    Expansion  of  Italy 43-44 

§  7.  Expansion  of  Germany  in  the  North  and  East — The  Three 

Zones 45-47 

§  8.  Progress  of  Germany  in  the  First  Zone     .        .        .        47-48 

§  9.  Progress  of  Germany  in  the  Second  Zone          .        .              49 

§  10.  Progress  of  Germany  in  the  Third  Zone    .        .        .        50-51 

§  11.  Progress  of  Germany  in  the  Valley  of  the  Danube    .        51-52 

§  12.  Resume  of  the  Expansion  of  Germany      .         .        .        52-53 

§  13.  Effects  of  this  Expansion  on  German  History — Austria 

and  Prussia 54-56 

§  14.  The  Intermediate  Region  between  Germany  and  France  56-57 

§  15.     Formation  of  France 58-60 

§  16.     Expansion  of  France 60-63 

§  17.  The  Royal  Policy— French  Patriotism       .        .        .        63-65 

§  18.  Progress  of  France  in  the  Intermediate  Region  .        .        65-67 

§  19.  The  House  of  Burgundy    ......        67-69 

§  20.     Formation  of  Spain 69-71 

§  21.     The  Kingdom  of  England 71-75 

§  22.  General  and  Concluding  Reflections  on  the  Middle  Ages.   76-78 


CHAPTER  IV. 
MODERN   TIMES. 

§  1.     General  Characteristics 79-86 

§  2.     Italy  and  Germany 86-89 

§  3.     The  Italian  Field  of  Battle— The  King  of  Sardinia  .  89-92 

§  4.     The  German  Field  of  Battle— Prussia  and  Austria    .  92-95 

§  5.     The  Intermediate  Region 95-97 

§  6.     Provinces  remaining  under  Hapsburg  Rule        .        .  97-99 

§  7.     Separation  of  the  Netherlands 99-100 

§8.     The  United  Provinces 100-101 

§  9.     The  Swiss  Cantons 101-102 

10.     France 102-106 


Contents.  xi 

PACKS 

§  11.     Spain 106-109 

§  12.     England 109-113 

§  13.     The  East— Prussia 113-118 

§  14.     Austria 118-119 

§  15.    Essential  Difference  between  Prussia  and  Austria     .  120-122 

§  16.     Mediaeval  Russia 122-125 

§17.     Modern  Russia 125-126 

§  18.     Characteristics  of  Russia 126-128 

§  19.     Concluding  Reflections— The  Three  Regions     .        .  128-129 

§  20.     Western  Europe 129-131 

§  21.    Eastern  Europe 131-134 

§  22.     New  Manners  and  New  Ideas 134-137 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  NINETEENTH  CENTUBY. 

§  1.    Destruction  of  Europe 138-139 

§  2.     Restoration  of  Europe 140-141 

§  3.     Patriotism  of  the  Revolution 141-142 

§4.     The  Principle  of  Nationality 143-145 

§  5.     The  New  Nations .  145-147 

§  6.     Definition  of  "  Nationality  " — Imperfection  of  National 

Development 147-150 

§  7.     Application  of  the  Principle  of  Nationality  to  Italy  .  150-153 

§  8.     Application  of  the  Principle  of  Nationality  to  Germany  154-155 

§  9.     The  Alsacian  Question 155-157 

§  10.     Austrian  and  Russian  Wars  of  Conquest  .        .        .  157-158 

§  11.     Expansion  of  Europe 158-160 

§  12.     Past  and  Present  Politics 160-162 

§  13.     Causes  of  Peace 162-163 

§  14.     Causes  of  War 163-164 

§  15.     National  Individualism 164-167 

§  16.     Conclusion 167-172 

INDEX  173-188 


POLITICAL   HISTORY    OF    EUROPE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

ANCIENT  HISTORY. 

§  1.   General  Characteristics. 

A  PEOPLE  does  not  possess  a  history  by  the  mere 
fact  of  its  existence ;  its  life  must  be  active  and 
fruitful. 

An  historical  people  is  one  which  has  rules  for 
the  guidance  of  its  political  and  social  life,  and 
which  has  some  measure  of  order  in  its  govern- 
ment and  of  justice  in  its  society.  It  professes  re- 
ligion and  morality.  It  is  skilled  in  the  work  of 
the  hands  and  of  the  mind  :  it  has  industries,  art, 
and  literature.  It  comes  in  contact  with  other  na- 
tions in  order  to  use  its  powers,  to  enrich  itself,  and 
to  gratify  its  pride,  devoting  itself  to  commerce  or 
to  conquest,  or  to  both  at  once. 

At  the  present  day  several  nations  deserve  to  be 
called  historical ;  the  actions  of  each  of  them  and 


2  Ancient  History.  [CH.  i. 

their  mutual  relations  constitute  history.  But  the 
farther  back  we  go,  the  rarer  are  such  nations.  At 
first  there  was  in  Europe  only  one,  the  Greeks ; 
after  them  only  one  occupied  the  scene — a  scene  of 
wider  dimensions — the  Romans. 

The  history  of  Greece  and  Rome  forms  our  first 
period,  which  closes  about  the  fourth  century  of 
the  Christian  era ;  then  new  actors  appear,  the 
Germans  and  Slavs,  to  give  complexity  to  history, 
which  till  then  was  very  simple. 

§  2.   Greece. 

It  was  natural  that  the  history  of  Europe  should 
begin  in  the  southeast,  quite  close  to  the  cradle  of 
the  earliest  civilizations. 

Greece  turned  to  account  the  experience  ac- 
quired by  the  nations  which  inhabited  the  valleys 
of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris,  the  slopes  of 
Mount  Lebanon,  and  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  But 
Grecian  civilization  was  distinguished  from  that  of 
earlier  nations  by  an  excellence  that  may  be  called 
European,  namely,  by  independent  activity. 

It  was  also  natural  that  Greece  should  at  once 
acquire  the  characteristic  features  of  European  civ- 
ilization. This  country,  which  receives  the  ocean  in 
the  sinuosities  of  its  shores  and  thrusts  its  pro- 
montories into  the  ocean,  this  peninsula,  encom- 
passed by  islands  and  cut  up  by  valleys  with 


CH.  L]  Greece.  3 

dominating  plains,  is  like  a  reduced  copy  of  our 
peninsular-shaped  continent,  with  its  extensive 
coast  and  well-defined  bays.  Greece,  in  short,  is 
Europe  reflected  and  condensed  in  a  mirror. 

Her  history  likewise  foretells  that  of  Europe. 
Greece  was  divided  into  populations  related  to,  and 
yet  differing  from,  one  another.  Her  cities  were 
small  sovereign  states,  which  in  their  mutual  inter- 
course employed  all  the  combinations  of  politics. 
Two  or  three  of  them  exercised  a  hegemony, 
which,  however,  was  never  extensive  or  durable. 

She  succeeded  in  organizing  within  the  sacred 
precincts  of  her  cities  a  government  and  a  society. 
She  excelled  in  all  kinds  of  human  activity — poetry, 
philosophy,  science,  art,  industry,  and  commerce. 
The  powers  thus  acquired  she  diffused  abroad. 
Along  the  whole  Mediterranean  coast,  from  the 
Euxine  to  the  Columns  of  Hercules,  she  founded 
cities,  which  were  offspring  of  her  own  towns; 
but  just  as  she  was  never  consolidated  into  a  state, 
so,  too,  she  did  not  unite  her  colonies  into  an  em- 
pire. When,  however,  she  lost  her  power  of 
action,  and  fell  under  the  rule  of  a  military  peo- 
ple, the  Macedonians,  Grecian  states  were  formed ; 
but  the  most  important  of  them  were  in  Asia  and 
Egypt. 

Greece,  however,  was  destined  to  survive  in 
Europe,  where  Hellenism,  under  different  forms, 
long  continued  to  exercise  very  great  influence. 


4  Ancient  History.  CCH.  i. 

It  modified  the  customs  and  ideas  of  republican 
Rome.  After  the  foundation  of  Constantinople 
it  created  a  religious  and  political  civilization,  the 
Byzantine.  It  broke  up  Roman  unity  in  the  last 
days  of  the  Empire.  During  the  Middle  Ages  it 
was  antagonistic  to  the  ideas  and  systems  of  which 
the  West  made  trial,  and  it  destroyed  the  ecclesi- 
astical unity  of  the  Christian  world.  Still  later, 
in  the  period  of  the  Renaissance,  its  wide  diffusion 
rejuvenated  thought,  and  produced  the  intellectual 
development  of  modern  times. 

§  3.   The  Roman  Dominion. 

The  Italian  Peninsula  does  not  resemble  that  of 
Greece.  It  is  more  regular  in  outline ;  islands  do 
not  abound  around  the  coast ;  and  its  inlets  do  not 
face  the  East.  Italy  is,  moreover,  situated  in  the 
centre  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  Sicily  brings  her 
within  view  of  Africa.  She  is  much  more  conti- 
nental, in  the  language  of  French  sailors  more  ter~ 
rienne,  than  Greece.  Her  indigenous  inhabitants 
along  the  coast  came  in  contact  with  foreign  sea- 
men. It  was,  however,  a  city  of  husbandmen  that 
united  them  all  under  its  laws. 

Rome  employed  the  first  centuries  of  her  exist- 
ence in  enlarging  her  territory,  just  as  a  peasant 
rounds  ofE  his  estate.  Like  all  conquerors,  she 
continued  to  conquer  because  she  had  begun  to 


CH.  L]  The  Roman  Dominion.  5 

conquer.  Her  first  wars  led  to  others ;  her  first 
successes  rendered  the  later  ones  at  once  necessary 
and  easy.  She  finally  believed  that  it  was  her 
mission  to  conquer  other  nations.  Conquest  be- 
came to  her  a  profession  : 

Tu  regere  imperio  populos,  Romane,  memento. 

She  thus  considerably  extended  the  field  of  his- 
tory, by  bringing  within  its  limits  Spain,  Gaul, 
Britain,  the  country  situated  between  the  Alps 
and  the  Danube,  and  a  part  of  Germany.  To  ex- 
ploit these  conquered  territories  she  invented  the 
province. 

Her  administration  destroyed  the  ancient  na- 
tions, and  fused  the  old  historical  and  natural  divi- 
sions into  the  unity  of  the  orbis  romanus.  This 
name  she  gave  to  the  beautiful  Mediterranean 
region  in  the  centre  of  which  arose  u  the  immov- 
able rock  of  the  Capitol."  The  Grecian  cities  had 
separately  founded  colonies  ;  Greece  dispersed  her 
strength :  Rome  consolidated  the  world — in  the 

O 

words  of  Varro,  fiebat  orbis  urbs.  There  had  been 
a  Grecian  world,  but  not  a  Grecian  empire ;  there 
was  a  Roman  world,  and  also  a  Roman  empire. 

Rome's  activity  was  intense  and  profound.  She 
transformed  nations,  substituted  order  for  anarchy, 
and  taught  the  conquered  people  her  language, 
customs,  and  religion.  She  rose  to  the  conception 
of  genus  liumanum,  and  wrote  human  reason  in  her 


6  Ancient  History.  [CH.L 

]aws.  One  cannot  help  admiring  so  extraordinary 
a  power,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  all  its  influ- 
ences were  beneficent. 

All  uniformity  of  education  is  dangerous,  be- 
cause individual  divergence  is  necessary  for  the 
progress  of  human  activity.  The  more  competing 
individuals  there  are,  the  more  productive  is  the 
world's  work.  As  far  as  she  could,  Rome  de- 
stroyed the  individual  genius  of  nations;  she 
seems  to  have  rendered  them  unqualified  for  a  na- 
tional existence.  When  the  public  life  of  the 
Empire  ceased,  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain  were  thus 
unable  to  become  nations.  Their  great  historical 
existence  did  not  commence  until  after  the  arrival 
of  the  barbarians,  and  after  several  centuries  of 
experiments  amid  violence  and  calamity. 

The  countries  that  Rome  civilized  do  not  owe 
her  thanks  only.  We  are  fond  of  contrasting 
the  picture  of  Celtic  Gaul  with  that  of  Roman 
Gaul.  The  villages  are  transformed  into  cities, 
huts  into  palaces,  foot-paths  into  paved  ways,  un- 
cultured orators  into  eloquent  rhetoricians,  and 
barbarous  warriors  into  generals  and  emperors. 
We  marvel  at  this  miracle,  and  at  the  happy  life 
that  people  led  in  the  Gallo-Roman  cities. 

But  how  does  it  happen  that  the  countries 
which  Rome  did  not  conquer,  or  did  not  long 
have  under  her  sway,  now  hold  such  a  prominent 
place  in  the  world — that  they  exhibit  so  much 


CH.  i.]  Division  into  Two  Empires.  7 

originality  and  such  complete  confidence  in  their 
future?  Is  it  only  because,  having  existed  a 
shorter  time,  they  are  entitled  to  a  longer  future  ? 
Or,  perchance,  did  Rome  leave  behind  her  certain 
habits  of  mind,  intellectual  and  moral  qualities, 
which  impede  and  limit  activity  ?  These  are 
insolvable  questions,  like  all  similar  ones  whose 
solution  it  would  be  important  for  us  to  know. 
At  any  rate,  let  us  not  be  too  prompt  to  pass 
judgment  in  this  matter.  It  is  not  certain  that 
Caesar's  conquest  of  Vercingetorix  was  a  blessing 
to  the  world. 

§  4.  Division  into  Two  JJ/mpires. 

Though  strongly  organized,  this  vast  dominion 
encountered  various  opposing  forces  which  it  could 
not  overcome. 

Very  frequently  there  was  opposition,  and  hence 
permanent  conflict,  between  the  spirit  of  the  North 
and  that  of  the  South.  But  in  Roman  times  the 
North  was  only  an  external  enemy,  and  one  which 
was  held  in  check.  The  real  contrast  lay  between 
the  West  and  the  East — the  West,  which  Rome 
had  subdued  and  assimilated  by  civilizing  it ;  the 
East,  which  still  retained  its  Hellenic  civilization. 

Into  Western  Europe  Rome  introduced  her  spirit 
and  language  ;  but  from  Hellenism  she  won  with 
great  difficulty  Southern  Italy  and  Sicily.  The  Ian- 


8  Ancient  History.  [CH.L 

guage  and  civilization  of  Greece  survived  from 
the  Adriatic  to  Mount  Taurus.  In  this  stretch  of 
country  the  Roman  name  displaced  the  Grecian, 
but  it  was  Roman  only  in  appearance.  On  the 
day  when  Constantine  founded  a  second  Rome,  an 
empire  began  which  the  Byzantine  chancery  called 
the  Roman  Empire,  but  which  history  regards  as 
the  Greek  Empire. 

The  separation  of  the  West  and  the  East  was  in- 
evitable, and  was  consummated  when,  in  the  year 
395,  the  two  sons  of  Theodosius  began  to  reign, 
the  one  at  Ravenna,  the  other  at  Constantinople. 
From  that  time  there  existed  two  distinct  states, 
each  with  it  own  task  and  its  own  enemies — the 
latter  forming  a  great  and  potent  throng  that 
strove  to  make  room  for  itself  on  the  scene  of 
action. 

§  5.   Causes  of  the  fall  of  Home. 

It  was  not  the  division  into  two  empires,  nor 
merely  the  power  of  external  enemies,  that  de- 
stroyed the  domination  of  Rome.  Republican 
Rome  had  ended  in  monarchy  by  the  decadence  of 
her  institutions  and  customs,  by  the  very  effect  of 
her  victories  and  conquests,  by  the  necessity  of  giv- 
ing to  this  immense  dominion  a  dominus.  But  after 
she  had  begun  to  submit  to  the  reality  of  a  mon* 
archy,  she  retained  the  worship  of  republican  forms. 


CH.  i.]  Causes  of  the  Fall  of  Rome.  9 

The  Empire  was  for  a  long  time  a  piece  of  hypoc- 
risy ;  for  it  did  not  dare  to  give  to  its  rulers  the  first 
condition  of  stability,  a  law  of  succession.  The 
death  of  every  emperor  was  followed  by  troubles, 
and  the  choice  of  a  master  of  the  world  was  often 
left  to  chance.  At  length  the  monarchy  had  to  be 
organized,  but  thenceforth  it  was  absolute,  without 
restraint  or  opposition.  Its  proposed  aim  was  to 
exploit  the  world,  an  aim  which  in  practice  was 
carried  to  an  extreme.  Hence  it  exhausted  the 
orbis  romanus. 

We  may  also  mention  among  the  causes  of  ruin 
the  very  duration  of  the  Empire,  the  wear  and 
tear  of  time.  The  world  felt  itself  growing  old. 
It  was  seeking  and  awaiting  something  new. 
This  it  could  not  obtain  by  a  political  revolution, 
for  no  one  thought  of  any  other  form  of  govern- 
ment than  the  empire ;  nor  by  a  social  revolution, 
for  the  mind  had  become  inured  to  the  regime  of 
castes  that  had  gradually  secured  a  foothold.  A 
religious  revolution  occurred,  but  it  was  directed 
against  the  Empire.  To  say,  "My  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world,"  was  to  hurl  divine  contempt  at 
the  pagan  world,  which  desired  to  be  self-suffic- 
ing, and  did  not  recognize  the  existence  of  a  fut- 
ure life.  To  say,  "  Render  to  Caesar  the  things 
that  are  Caesar's,  and  to  God  the  things  that  are 
God's,"  was  to  distinguish  God  from  Caesar,  in 
whom  were  blended  the  human  and  the  divine. 


10  Ancient  History.  CCH.  i. 

This  distinction  having  once  been  made,  would 
not  the  debt  to  God  have  been  much  greater  than 
the  obligation  to  Caesar  ?  To  say,  "  Heaven  and 
earth  shall  pass  away,"  was  to  gainsay  the  pre- 
diction of  the  Empire's  eternity  (Imperium  sine 
fine  dedi) ;  to  speak  thus  was  to  shake  the  immov- 
able rock. 


CHAPTER  II. 

TRANSITION  TO  MEDLEVAL  HISTORY. 

§  1.  General  Characteristics. 

FROM  the  East,  the  cradle  of  races,  the  tumultu- 
ous procession  of  the  nations  advances — Germans, 
Slavs,  Huns,  Avars,  and  Arabs.  They  differ  very 
much  from  one  another.  Humanity  with  its  con- 
trasting variations,  congenital  or  slowly  acquired, 
enters  into  conflict  with  the  Roman  work  of  as- 
similating men  by  force  and  by  the  power  of  the 
intellect. 

The  Arabs  were  characterized  by  a  potent  origi- 
nality. They  represented  the  great  Semitic  race 
as  opposed  to  the  great  Aryan  race.  They  founded 
a  religion  and  an  empire,  and  did  not  harmonize 
with  the  imperial  Roman  past.  They  have,  in  fact, 
a  peculiar  domicile  of  their  own  in  history. 

The  Huns  and  the  Avars,  both  of  the  Turanian 
race,  more  poorly  endowed  than  the  Semites,  un- 
touched by  earlier  educating  influences,  still  re- 
maining in  the  primitive  state  of  nomads,  and 


12  Transition  to  Mediaeval  History.  ten.  n. 

benighted  in  fetichism,  brought  with  them  nothing 
save  brutality.  Destroyers,  incapable  of  founding 
anything,  they  were  destined  to  be  destroyed. 

The  Germans  and  the  Slavs  are  of  the  same 
stock  as  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  Posted  on  the 
frontiers  of  the  Roman  Empire,  where  dwelt 
order,  joy,  and  wealth,  it  seemed  as  though  they 
were  simply  awaiting  the  time  when  they  were  to 
divide  their  patrimony.  They  are  the  younger 
branches  of  the  Aryan  family,  which  succeeded 
when  the  older  ones  were  exhausted  and  withered. 

All  these  nations,  differing  in  origin,  customs, 
and  religion,  came  in  contact  with  the  Roman 
Empire.  In  the  East,  it  suffered  encroachment 
without  being  destroyed ;  in  the  West,  the  Ger- 
mans, after  unintentionally  extinguishing  the  Em- 
pire, restored  it.  In  the  year  800,  when  Charle- 
magne was  crowned  in  the  basilica  of  St.  Peter, 
Europe  appeared  to  be  again  restored  to  good 
order,  as  in  the  time  of  Theodosius,  with  her 
two  capitals,  Rome  and  Constantinople.  This 
was  the  case  only  in  appearance  ;  but  appearances 
are  facts,  and  illusions  are  powers  that  produce 
real  actions  of  considerable  importance. 

Thus  the  year  800  marks  the  end  of  a  second 
period.  Let  us  now  trace  the  history  of  Europe 
to  this  date. 


CH.  n.]  The  Empire  of  the  East.  13 


§  2.   The  Empire  of  the  East. 

The  main  efforts  of  the  barbarians  were  di- 
rected against  the  West.  A  few  years  after  the 
death  of  Theodosius,  Britain  was  abandoned  by 
the  Roman  legions.  Franks,  Visigoths,  and  Bur- 
gundians  occupied  Gaul  and  Spain.  Almost  all 
the  barbarians  visited  and  pillaged  Italy.  Groups 
of  mercenaries  established  their  quarters  in  the 
Peninsula,  but  no  people  took  possession  of  it  in  the 
formal  way  in  which  the  above-mentioned  tribes 
occupied  Gaul.  Italy  inspired  respect.  Though 
completely  disarmed,  she  was  protected  by  the 
grand  reminiscences  of  her  glory,  just  as  Sylla  had 
formerly  been  shielded  by  the  shades  of  his  pro- 
scribed victims.  No  king  entertained  the  idea 
of  reigning  over  Home.  Emperors  continued  to 
succeed  one  another,  valiant  or  craven,  intelligent 
or  stupid,  all  equally  impotent. 

Nevertheless,  in  the  year  476,  the  chief  of  the 
mercenaries  of  Italy,  Odoacer  by  name,  thought 
that  it  was  no  longer  necessary  that  the  West 
should  have  a  separate  emperor.  He  caused  the 
imperial  insignia  to  be  carried  to  Gaul  by  a  depu- 
tation charged  to  tell  the  Emperor  Zeno  that  a 
single  master  of  the  world  sufficed. 

Thenceforth  unity,  as  it  existed  under  the 
Caesars  and  Antonines,  seemed  to  be  restored.  Con- 


14  Transition  to  Mediaval  History.  [en.  n. 

stantinople  imagined  that  in  the  future  she  alone 
was  to  direct  the  course  of  history.  There  the 
Emperor  received  the  homage  of  the  kings  of  the 
West.  He  sent  titles  and  favors  to  the  limits  of 
the  orbis  romanus.  He  decorated  Clovis,  King  of 
the  Franks,  with  the  insignia  of  a  proconsul. 

Against  Odoacer,  the  Emperor  sent  to  Italy  the 
Ostrogoths,  commanded  by  Theodoric,  who,  will- 
ingly or  unwillingly,  remained  his  lieutenant.  At 
one  time  it  even  seemed  as  though  the  Emperor 
were  going  to  take  effective  possession  of  the 
world ;  for  Justinian  conquered  Italy,  Africa,  a 
part  of  Spain,  and  various  islands  and  shores  of 
the  Western  Mediterranean. 

This  return  to  offensive  operations  on  the  part 
of  the  ancient  power  was  of  short  duration.  The 
Lombards,  invading  Italy  in  the  sixth  century, 
wrested  from  the  Empire  all  save  a  few  islets  of 
territory,  and  these  were  beaten  and  wasted  by 
the  waves  of  the  invasion.  The  Arabs,  by  their 
conquests  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  Spain,  formed  an 
immense  semicircle  around  the  orbis  romanus  on 
the  south. 

Relegated  to  the  East,  the  Empire,  still  calling 
itself  the  universal  Empire,  began  to  assume  the 
well-defined  character  of  an  oriental  state.  Bar- 
barian invasions  complicated  the  ethnography  of 
the  Balkan  Peninsula.  The  Slavs  spread  over 
the  north  and  the  northwest ;  and  thus  Servia 


CH.  no       The  Western  Barbarians  and  the  Church.  15 

and  Croatia  came  into  existence.  Istria  and  Dal- 
matia  were  completely  permeated  with  Slavs,  who 
likewise  penetrated  by  infiltration  into  Macedonia 
and  Greece.  The  Bulgarians,  a  Turanian  people, 
who  were  soon  assimilated  by  the  Slavs,  crossed 
the  Danube,  and  spread  out  far  beyond  the  Bal- 
kans. Such  is  the  agglomeration  of  elements  out 
of  which  was  to  arise  the  modern  Eastern  Ques- 
tion. 

Henceforth  there  was  no  longer  any  hope  of  re- 
storing the  universal  empire.  Only  a  modest 
function  remained  to  be  performed  by  the  Byzan- 
tine Empire :  it  had  to  strive  to  exist.  It  is  a 
marvel  that  it  existed  so  long. 

§  3.   The  Western  Barbarians  and  the  Cliurch. 

While  the  East  thus  adhered  to  the  forms  of  the 
past,  new  and  curious  experiments  were  being 
tried  in  the  West.  These  novelties  were  not  of  a 
revolutionary  nature.  When  the  Germans  first 
entered  into  relations  with  Rome,  they  came  in 
the  attitude  of  armed  supplicants,  demanding 
lands  in  exchange  for  their  military  service.  Ma- 
rius  destroyed  this  first  army  of  invaders,  but 
others  came,  always  repeating  the  same  supplica- 
tions. The  frontiers  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube, 
after  a  long  defence,  gave  way.  Numerous  indi- 
viduals, bands  more  or  less  considerable,  finally 


16  Transition  to  Mediceval  History.  [CH.  IL 

whole  nations,  came  for  the  purpose  of  establishing 
themselves  on  Roman  soil. 

In  the  course  of  the  fifth  century  the  Visigoths, 
Burgundians,  and  Franks  divided  Gaul ;  and  the 
Ostrogoths  occupied  Italy.  None  of  them  were 
destroyers.  Each  of  these  nations,  spread  out  over 
vast  provinces,  formed  a  minority  in  the  midst  of 
a  completely  Roman  population,  and  sought  to 
live  in  harmony  with  the  latter.  In  this  attempt 
they  showed  some  intelligence  and  much  good- will, 
but  they  could  not  cast  off  their  old  customs. 

The  government  of  the  barbarian  kings  was  a 
peculiar  monarchy,  half  Roman,  half  German,  ab- 
solute in  principle,  but  tempered  by  revolts,  by 
murders,  and,  above  all,  by  the  impossibility  of 
their  comprehending  the  spirit  of  imperial  govern- 
ment. The  surviving  respect  for  the  Empire  dis- 
turbed the  Ostrogoths,  established  on  soil  pre-emi- 
nently Roman,  and  also  the  Burgundians,  whose 
chancery  makes  them  use  the  language  of  very 
humble  servants  when  they  address  the  Emperor  of 
the  East.  Nevertheless,  this  sentiment,  which  the 
people  of  the  West  professed  for  the  Empire,  was 
a  superstition.  It  was  a  new  power  that  was  des- 
tined to  give  the  barbarians  a  domicile  in  history. 

The  Christian  Church,  after  having  lived  con- 
cealed in  the  Empire,  after  having  defied  its  laws 
and  suffered  its  persecutions,  had  received  from  it 
honors,  privileges,  riches,  and  a  model  for  her  gov- 


CH.  n.]       The  Western  Barbarians  and  the  Church.  17 

eminent.  In  fact,  the  imperial  hierarchy  was  re- 
produced in  the  cities  by  the  bishops,  and  in  the 
provinces  by  the  metropolitans.  The  Bishop  of 
Rome,  successor  of  St.  Peter  and  sole  patriarch  of 
the  West,  already  saluted  with  the  title  of  univer- 
sal bishop,  was  spiritually  what  the  successor  of 
Augustus  was  temporally. 

Thus  the  Church  remade,  or  rather  perpetuated, 
the  idea  of  universality.  When  the  Roman  father- 
land, torn  into  fragments,  was  about  to  be  super- 
seded by  many  small  countries,  the  Church  offered 
to  civilized  humanity  the  great  ecclesiastical  and 
Christian  fatherland.  She  mediated  a  quiet  tran- 
sition from  the  past  to  the  future.  Was  she  not  in 
reality  Roman?  Her  leader  sat  at  Rome;  her 
language  was  that  of  Rome  ;  and  her  worship  had 
become  the  official  worship  of  Rome.  The  words 
"Christian"  and  "Roman"  were  at  first  opposed 
to  each  other.  When  the  martyrs  refused  to  wor- 
ship at  the  statue  of  the  Emperor,  they  justified 
their  disobedience  by  saying  :  "  I  am  a  Christian," 
Sum  Christianus.  But  in  the  fourth  century  the 
two  words  approached  each  other  in  meaning  or 
were  confused ;  "  Christian  "  and  "  Roman  "  be- 
came, in  fact,  synonymous  terms. 

Like  ancient  Rome,  the  Church  conquered  and 

assimilated.     The  intellectual  sap  of  the  ancient 

world  no  longer  produced  anything  but  miserable 

flowerets  without  color  or  perfume.     The  Church, 

2 


18  Transition  to  Mediaeval  History.  [CH.  n. 

on  the  other  hand,  attracted  intelligent  men  by 
her  literature,  history,  dialectics,  the  philosophy 
of  her  dogma,  and  her  words  of  eternal  life. 

Since  the  barbarians  did  not  wish  to  destroy 
Rome,  since  they  entered  the  Empire  as  guests, 
and  since  they  were  not  numerous  enough  or  strong 
enough  to  exterminate  the  ancient  population  or 
to  reduce  it  to  obedience,  they  had  no  other  policy 
to  adopt  save  to  make  it  accept  them.  But  the 
necessary  and  prime  condition  of  this  step  was 
their  own  acceptance  by  the  Church.  Accord- 
ingly, the  Visigoths,  Burgundians,  Vandals,  and 
Ostrogoths  consented  to  become  Christians,  but 
after  their  own  fashion.  They  did  not  accept  the 
whole  Catholic  creed.  Hence  they  were  merely 
transient  figures  on  the  scene  of  action.  The 
Church  and  the  Roman  population  were  not 
powerful  enough  to  drive  them  away,  but  they 
allowed  Justinian  to  obtain  possession  of  Italy,  and 
aided  the  Franks  to  conquer  Gaul  and  the  West. 

§  4.   The  Franks. 

The  Franks  had  long  been  familiar  with  the 
name  of  Rome,  and  had,  in  fact,  been  in  her  ser- 
vice, but  they  had  not  been  Romanized  like  the 
Visigoths  and  Burgundians.  They  were  no  longer 
wholly  barbarians,  although  still  uncivilized.  Es- 
tablished on  the  northern  frontier  of  the  Empire, 


CH.  n.]  The  Franks  19 

they  occupied  territory  partly  Roman  and  partly 
German.  Inhabiting  both  sides  of  the  Rhine, 
which  separated  the  classical  from  the  barbarian 
world,  they  were  destined  to  be  the  medium  of 
communication  between  the  past,  in  which  the 
chief  actors  were  the  Romans,  and  the  future, 
which  was  to  be  mainly  the  possession  of  the 
Germanic  nations. 

Like  the  Church,  the  Franks  were  thus  capable 
of  mediating  a  transition.  Hence  the  harmony 
between  the  ecclesiastical  power  and  Frank  en- 
ergy is  one  of  the  greatest  facts  in  universal  his- 
tory. The  vigor  of  the  Franks  by  itself  would 
have  sufficed  to  triumph  over  the  worn-out  and 
enervated  Visigoths  and  Burgundians ;  but  the 
baptism  of  Clovis  and  his  policy  toward  the 
Church  completed  the  success  of  the  Franks.  St. 
Remi  gave  them  citizenship  among  the  Roman 
populations,  in  whose  midst  the  other  barbarians 
remained  strangers  because  they  were  heretics. 

The  Church  immediately  opened  to  their  ambi- 
tion an  immense  perspective.  She  sought  a  new 
people  of  God,  which  she  could  charge  with  the 
divine  mission.  Hence  on  the  day  after  the  bap- 
tism of  Clovis  priests  preached  to  the  new  David 
concerning  his  duties;  the  task  which  they  im- 
posed upon  him  was  nothing  less  than  to  unite  un- 
der one  law  and  one  faith  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth. 


20  Transition  to  Mediaval  History.  ECH.IL 

Beyond  the  ancient  limits  of  the  Empire  the 
Franks  conquered  Alemannia  and  Thuringia;  they 
also  made  Bavaria  a  dependent  state ;  and  Chris- 
tianity began  to  be  preached  in  these  new  coun- 
tries. But  the  Franks  did  not  immediately  suc- 
ceed in  accomplishing  their  arduous  task.  The 
Merovingian  dynasty  governed  poorly,  and  never 
even  succeeded  in  comprehending  what  a  govern- 
ment was.  It  wore  itself  out  in  enjoyments,  dis- 
cords, and  imbecile  follies.  Its  empire  was  dis- 
membered •  Neustria,  Aquitaine,  Burgundy,  Aus- 
trasia,  Alemannia,  and  Bavaria  secured  separate 
organizations.  In  each  of  these  provinces,  which 
were  like  distinct  kingdoms,  little  groups  of  sei- 
gneurs with  their  dependents  began  to  be  absorbed 
in  their  own  local  life. 

Among  these  seigneurs  were  the  bishops.  Hav- 
ing become  great  landowners  and  important  mem- 
bers of  the  state,  they  were  entangled  and  lost  in 
the  temporal  hierarchy.  It  seemed  as  though  the 
world  would  split  into  an  infinite  number  of  small 
pieces.  But  the  idea  of  unity  survived  in  the 
great  pagan  reminiscences,  in  the  indestructible 
power  of  the  imagination,  and  in  the  creed  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome,  the  successor  of  that  apostle  to 
whom  Christ  had  entrusted  the  task  of  feeding  the 

O 

universal  flock  of  the  faithful. 

At  the  close  of  the  sixth  century  the  Papacy 
became  a  conquering  power.  Under  its  direction 


en.  n.]  Restoration  of  the  Empire  21 

missionaries  proceeded  beyond  Gaul,  to  the  very 
extremity  of  the  ancient  Empire,  and  converted 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  who  had  recently  established 
themselves  in  Britain.  Here  an  ecclesiastical  pro- 
vincia  was  organized,  as  completely  subject  to  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  as  the  ancient  political  province 
had  been  to  the  Roman  emperor.  From  England 
missionaries  went  forth  to  preach  the  Christian 
faith  in  Germany,  and,  as  one  of  its  dogmas,  obedi- 
ence to  the  See  of  Rome. 

Thus  the  Rome  of  St.  Peter  began  her  conquests 
where  the  Rome  of  Augustus  had  finished  hers, 
in  Britain  and  Germany.  These  two  countries 
are  the  first  provinces  of  a  Church  Empire ;  they 
enter  into  history  through  the  Church.  Hence  it 
was  the  Papacy  which  first  enlarged  Europe. 

§  5.  Restoration  of  the  Empire. 

Meanwhile,  since  the  sixth  century,  Lombards 
and  Greeks  were  contending  for  the  possession  of 
Italy.  Rome,  which  was  menaced  by  the  former, 
still  belonged  to  the  Emperor.  The  Bishop  of  the 
Eternal  City  was  thus  the  subject  of  the  Byzan- 
tine /?acri/l£i;g.  But  Constantinople  held  out  to 
him  the  prospect  of  nothing  but  insults,  humilia- 
tions, and  even  dangers  to  the  Christian  faith. 
From  the  Lombards,  likewise,  he  expected  no 
good.  Between  these  two  enemies  he  maintained 


22  Transition  to  Mediceval  History.  CCH.  n. 

himself  with  difficulty.  His  secret  desire  was  to 
have  Rome  to  himself ;  and  this  end  he  gradu- 
ally attained  by  the  very  services  that  he  rendered 
in  rebuilding  her  walls  and  in  nourishing  her  peo- 
ple. He  even  dreamed  of  dominion  over  all  Italy ; 
but  he  was  still  weak  in  the  midst  of  violent  en- 
emies. 

"Watching  carefully  the  course  of  events,  he  fol- 
lowed the  progress  of  a  new  Frankish  power. 
For  he,  too,  like  the  Gallo-Roman  bishops  of  the 
fifth  century,  was  in  quest  of  a  people  that  might 
become  the  workmen  of  God. 

An  Austrasian  family,  destined  later  to  bear 
the  name  of  Carolingians,  had  recently  acquired 
great  possessions  between  the  Moselle  and  the 
Rhine.  In  this  family  public  office  became  heredi- 
tary. Its  heads  served  the  Merovingian  crown  as 
mayors  of  the  palace ;  but  they  were,  in  reality, 
dukes  of  Austrasia,  just  as  the  Agilofings  were 
dukes  of  Bavaria.  Their  country  was  rich  in  men 
of  war,  and  was  well  situated  to  exert  influence, 
on  the  one  hand,  upon  the  German  duchies  and, 
on  the  other,  upon  Neustria  and  Burgundy. 

This  country  of  the  Rhine  was,  decidedly,  the 
principal  theatre  of  history.  There,  on  the  con- 
fines of  the  old  world  and  the  new,  it  was  necessary 
to  live  in  order  to  become  the  controlling  powe^r 
of  the  future.  The  Merovingian  Franks  left  this 
region  too  quickly,  making  Paris  and  Orleans  their 


CH.  n.i  Restoration  of  the  Empire.  23 

favorite  capitals.  They  sank  in  the  quicksands  of 
the  Gallo-Roman  population,  and  their  energy  was 
prematurely  stifled  in  the  ashes  of  the  past.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Franks  of  Austrasia,  the  Ripu- 
arians  of  the  Rhine,  had  preserved  their  primitive 
energy,  the  practice  of  undertaking  a  campaign 
every  spring,  and  the  love  and  enjoyment  of  war. 

When  the  Merovingian  Franks  first  appeared  on 
the  scene,  the  Bishop  of  Rheims  had  been  there 
to  greet  them  ;  and  ready  to  greet  the  Austrasian 
Franks  was  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  Being  a  greater 
personage  than  St.  Remi,  the  universal  bishop  pro- 
posed a  higher  task :  with  prayers  and  tears  he 
begged  the  Franks  to  constitute  themselves  the 
protectors  of  the  Apostle  St.  Peter. 

The  Franks  did  not  at  first  understand  this 
proposition,  and  hesitated  a  long  time.  Charles 
Martel,  intent  on  his  work  of  war,  did  not  trouble 
himself  to  place  his  weapons  at  the  service  of  a 
priest.  But  the  priest  insisted.  Pipin  and  Carlo- 
man,  sons  of  Charles,  were  already  disciples  of  the 
Church.  The  latter  died  as  a  monk ;  the  former  pre- 
sided over  ecclesiastical  councils,  and  was  zealous 
in  reforming  the  churches  of  Gaul  and  Germany. 
When  Pipin  was  elected  king  by  the  Franks,  the 
Pope  went  to  Gaul  to  anoint  him,  just  as  Samuel 
had  anointed  David.  Nevertheless,  the  alliance 
was  not  final.  Charlemagne,  son  of  Pipin,  did  not 
come  to  an  immediate  understanding  with  the 


24  Transition  to  Mediceval  History.  ten.  n. 

Papacy.  For  a  time  lie  was  on  good  terms  with 
the  Lombards,  and  chose  a  wife  from  amonor  this 

7  O 

"  most  infamous  tribe  of  lepers,"  as  they  were  called 
by  the  Holy  Father. 

Nevertheless,  the  spell  exercised  by  the  Church 
continued  to  work,  and  became  irresistible.  If 
Charlemagne  had  been  left  to  his  own  resources, 
he  would  have  had  at  his  disposal  only  the  power 
and  the  ideas  of  a  primitive  king,  that  is  to  say,  of 
a  military  leader  and  a  judge.  The  Church  nour- 
ished him  with  her  learning — her  theology,  history, 
literature,  grammar,  and  astronomy.  She  proposed 
an  ideal  for  his  political  and  military  activity,  as 
well  as  employment  for  his  energy,  by  requesting 
him  "  to  defend  the  faith  against  the  heretics 
within,  and  to  propagate  it  without  over  the  lands 
of  the  pagans." 

To  minds  capable  of  reflection,  Christianity 
seemed  at  this  time  like  a  society  of  soldiers  and 
priests,  governed  by  a  soldier  and  a  priest.  If 
she  could  have  forgotten  the  profane  portion  of 
ancient  history,  she  would  have  believed  herself 
again  in  biblical  times,  when  the  army  fought  on 
the  plain,  and  Moses  prayed  on  the  mountain.  This 
figure  is  applicable  to  Charlemagne  himself  at  a  cer- 
tain period  of  his  reign.  But  the  traditions  of  pro- 
fane antiquity  thrust  themselves  upon  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  and  Charlemagne,  and  they  agree  to  re- 
store not  the  government  of  the  people  of  God,  but 


en.  n.]        The  Historical  World  in  the  Year  800.  25 

the  Koman  Empire.  Thus  in  the  year  800,  in  the 
basilica  of  St.  Peter,  Moses  crowns  Joshua,  whom 
the  Roman  people  salutes  as  Augustus. 

§  6.   The  Historical   World  in  the   Year  800. 

The  Pope  claimed  that  he  had  established  a 
single  universal  Emperor.  Ever  since  Odoacer 
had  sent  to  Constantinople  the  imperial  insignia, 
the  Byzantine  fiaff&ev$  had  been  "  the  sole  master 
who  sufficed  for  the  world ;  "  but  in  the  year  800 
old  Rome  resumed  her  right  to  make  emperors. 
Charlemagne  was  thus  in  theory  the  head  of  the 
world ;  but  Constantinople  maintained  against 
such  a  theory  her  actual  possession  of  the  im- 
perial title,  the  legitimacy  of  which  Charlemagne 
himself  recognized. 

These  two  empires  would  have  embraced  all 
Christianity,  if  the  Anglo-Saxons  in  Britain,  an 
independent  Christian  people,  were  not  already  en- 
tering upon  a  separate  career  of  their  own.  The 
Empire  of  the  West,  the  Empire  of  the  East,  and 
England  were  the  three  political  entities  which  at 
the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century  constituted 
Europe. 

Outside  of  their  boundaries  were  the  infidels  and 
the  pagans.  The  country  of  Islam — which  was 
itself  divided  into  an  empire  of  the  West,  the  cali- 
phate of  Cordova,  and  an  empire  of  the  East,  the 


26  Transition  to  Mediaeval  History.  ten.  n. 

caliphate  of  Bagdad — extended,  like  a  gigantic 
crescent,  south  of  the  two  empires  of  which  it 
was  the  common  enemy.  The  pagans  occupied  all 
the  North  and  East:  Scandinavia,  the  immense, 
measureless  region  of  Slavonia,  and  the  country 
of  the  Avars. 

Charlemagne  destroyed  the  kingdom  of  the 
Avars  on  the  Danube.  He  also  conquered  the 
Scandinavians  and  the  Slavs  of  the  Elbe;  and, 
although  he  did  not  reduce  them  to  subjection,  he 
organized  along  his  frontiers  military  counties  or 
marches,  which  formed  the  vanguard  of  Christian- 
ity. He  thus  pointed  out  the  way  to  his  succes- 
sors, and  bequeathed  to  them  the  duty  of  waging 
war  against  the  pagans  and  infidels. 

§  7.  Historical  Effects  of  the  Restoration 
of  the  Empire. 

The  Empire  of  Charlemagne  comprised  certain 
ancient  Christian  countries  which  had  obeyed  Rome. 
These  were :  Gaul ;  Northern  Spain,  from  the  Py- 
renees to  the  Ebro,  taken  from  the  Arabs ;  Italy, 
as  far  as  the  Garigliano,  taken  from  the  Lom- 
bards, a  portion  of  which  Pipin  had  given  to  the 
Pope  as  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter ;  in  addition, 
outside  of  the  orbis  romanus,  Germany.  Before 
the  time  of  the  Carolingians,  Gaul,  Italy,  and  Ger- 
many had  each  a  separate  existence.  The  Caro- 


CH.  n.]      Effects  of  the  Restoration  of  the  Empire.  27 

lingians  fused  all  these  countries  into  the  unity  of 
the  restored  Empire. 

This  restoration  is  the  great  fact  of  the  period, 
which  is  distinguished  from  that  which  precedes 
and  from  those  which  follow  by  a  strange  phenom- 
enon :  two  ideal  powers,  the  remembrance  of  pagan 
Rome  and  the  authority  of  Christian  Rome,  were 
exclusively  directing  the  material  power  of  West- 
ern Europe. 

The  historian  looks  with  more  favor  upon  the 
new  Rome,  which  subdued  souls  after  having  en- 
lightened them,  than  upon  ancient  Rome,  which  con- 
quered in  order  to  dominate  and  to  exploit.  The 
conquest  of  Britain  by  a  few  Roman  missionaries, 
armed  only  with  the  Cross,  their  chants,  and  their 
prayers,  is  certainly  more  admirable,  more  glorious, 
and  more  humane  than  the  conquest  by  Agricola. 

It  is  a  source  of  pleasure  to  us  also  to  consider 
the  homage  rendered  by  Charlemagne  the  Frank 
to  the  power  of  the  past.  This  German  is  a  de- 
scendant of  the  old  enemies  of  Rome ;  in  him  is 
summed  up,  and,  as  it  were,  personified,  the  inva- 
sion of  the  barbarians  which  destroj^ed  the  Empire ; 
and,  to  crown  his  victories,  he  restores  the  Empire. 
But  the  historian  should  not  admire  without  re- 
serve, unless  he  believes,  as  a  sort  of  fatalistic  op- 
timist, that  in  this  best  of  worlds  everything  has 
been  for  the  best. 

It  is  said  that  the  Carolingian  Empire  had  a 


28  Transition  to  Medi&val  History.  ten.  n. 

beneficial  effect  in  preparing  for  the  nations  of  the 
future  a  common  civilization — Christian,  military, 
and  political ;  and  that  from  this  Empire  were  de- 
rived the  typical  Christian  man  of  arms,  and  the 
poetry  of  the  conflict  between  the  faithful  of  all 
countries  and  the  infidel.  Would  you  eliminate 
chivalry,  the  Crusades,  and  mediaeval  heroic  poetry 
from  the  history  of  sentiments  and  ideas  ? 

No.  But  the  nations  of  Europe  on  issuing  from 
their  common  cradle  were  to  be  hostile  brothers. 
After  the  vitality  of  the  Carolingians  had  been  ex- 
hausted, the  "West  was  again  divided.  There  was  as 
much  misery  and  bloodshed  in  destroying  the  edifice 
as  there  had  been  in  building  it.  The  temporal 
hegemony  and  the  spiritual  hegemony  which  the 
Pope  and  Charlemagne  had  riveted  together,  col- 
lided ;  and  each  of  them,  in  turn,  became  tyrannical. 
Are  you  so  anxious  to  preserve  in  history  the  quar- 
rel between  the  Papacy  and  the  Empire,  the  op- 
pression of  Italy  by  Germany,  and  the  long  restraint 
exercised  on  the  human  conscience  by  the  Church  ? 
Would  you  not  gladly  efface  from  the  list  of  Cru- 
sades that  against  the  Albigenses  ?  When  the 
Pope  consecrated  Pipin,  and  when  Charlemagne 
and  the  Pope  restored  the  Empire,  they  bequeathed 
to  future  ages  the  coalition  between  the  throne  and 
the  altar.  Do  you  not  see  the  result,  the  whole 
result  ? 

It  is  not  certain  that  without  the  alliance  of  the 


CH.  ii.]       Effects  of  the  Restoration  of  tbe  Empire,  29 

Carolingians  and  the  Papacy  the  Austrasian,  the 
Aquitainian,  the  Lombard,  the  Bavarian,  and  the 
Saxon  would  have  failed  to  find  the  standard  of 
living  that  was  best  suited  to  each  of  them ;  that 
they  would  not  have  been  just  as  fully  permeated 
with  the  Christian  spirit  by  adapting  religion  each 
to  his  own  particular  genius,  as  they  did  adapt  it 
in  later  times. 

Who  knows?  That  is  a  question  which  one 
must  frequently  repeat.  One  thing  appears  cer- 
tain :  if  the  past  is  beneficent,  because  it  initiates 
new  generations  into  the  experience  of  by-gone  ages, 
it  abuses  its  power.  To  the  living  some  things  in 
the  past  seem  like  impish  pranks.  One  of  these 
pranks  was  the  re-establishment  of  the  Empire, 
in  the  year  800,  by  a  priest  and  a  warrior,  neither 
of  whom  knew  exactly  what  the  ancient  Empire 
had  been,  and  what  the  new  one  was  to  be. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 
§  1.   General  Characteristics. 

WE  must  first  determine  the  limits  and  general 
characteristics  of  the  period  which  is  now  to  oc- 
cupy our  attention. 

The  Empire  of  the  East  maintained  its  exist- 
ence like  an  agitated  flame,  sending  forth  great 
gleams  of  light,  which  vanished  only  to  reappear 
with  renewed  brightness.  During  more  than  six 
centuries  it  defended  itself  against  the  darkness 
which  finally  overtook  it. 

The  West  began  by  undoing  the  work  of  the 
Carolingians ;  it  broke  up  the  Empire  into  king- 
doms, and  the  kingdoms  into  feudal  territories. 
A  tangled  and  very  rank  vegetation  thus  ob- 
scured the  general  ideas  of  government.  The  im- 
perial power,  which  lost  a  part  of  its  authority 
every  time  it  changed  hands,  and  for  which  petty 
Italian  princes  contended,  was  reduced  to  a  ci- 
pher ;  and  the  papal  power,  for  which  Roman  fac- 


CH.  ra.]  General  Characteristics.  31 

tions  contended,  was  debased.  But  in  the  middle 
of  the  tenth  century  a  Pope  suddenly  restored  to 
the  Empire  its  lustre  and  strength  by  crowning  as 
Emperor,  Otto,  King  of  Germany. 

These  two  powers  then  became  the  principal 
factors  in  the  politics  of  the  West.  In  the  pro- 
tecting shadow  of  the  Empire  the  Papacy  was  re- 
invigorated  and  purified,  and  regained  control  over 
the  Church,  which  was  once  more  losing  itself 
in  worldly  cares  and  obligations.  Having  become 
the  head  of  an  immense  spiritual  army,  the  Pa- 
pacy constrained  the  Empire  at  first  to  respect  her 
independence,  and  soon  afterward  to  recognize 
her  primacy  of  rank. 

If  these  two  powers  had  acted  in  harmony  they 
would  have  been  mistresses  of  the  West,  where 
they  would  have  long  prevented  national  develop- 
ment. In  fact,  the  Papacy  did  not  desire  to  hear 
anything  concerning  quarrels  between  nations.  In 
her  eyes  only  one  kind  of  war  was  legitimate  and 
perpetually  obligatory,  namely,  war  against  the 
infidel,  and,  by  way  of  interlude,  war  against  the 
heretic  and  the  excommunicate.  In  order  that 
Christians  might  perform  the  duty  of  waging  this 
war  of  God,  the  Pope  tried  to  impose  upon  them 
the  peace  of  God.  Whoever  interfered  with  this 
peace,  whether  a  petty  baron  or  a  Henry  of  Eng- 
land, a  Philip  of  France,  or  an  Emperor  Freder- 
ick, was  a  rebel. 


32  The  Middle  Ages.  rcn.  m. 

Thus  the  Crusades  formed  the  principal  phe- 
nomenon of  political  history  in  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries ;  but  they  quickly  miscarried, 
and  finally  failed  lamentably.  The  kings  turned 
away  from  this  ruinous  undertaking.  Other  inter- 
ests attracted  their  attention,  undertakings  nearer 
home  and  more  lucrative.  National  territories  be- 
gan to  appear,  and  the  nations  began  to  be  con- 
scious of  the  fact  that  they  possessed  a  frontier. 

The  two  leading  powers  were  themselves  the 
cause  of  their  own  destruction.  The  Papacy 
ruined  the  Empire  in  the  thirteenth  century ;  but 
she  soon  met  with  resistance  from  the  kings,  who 
had  become  heads  of  nations,  and  she  fell  into  the 
scandals  of  the  Great  Schism. 

Thus  from  the  wreck  of  the  two  universal 
powers  the  various  nationalities  emerged.  Just  as 
Christianity  had  succeeded  the  Roman  Empire,  so 
Europe  succeeded  Christianity.  But  how  confused 
and  chaotic  Europe  still  was !  It  is,  therefore, 
necessary  to  look  further  for  a  date  of  demarca- 
tion in  the  political  history  of  the  Continent.  In 
the  fourteenth  century  the  veritable  Middle  Ages 
came  to  a  close.  But  there  was  still  an  Empire 
of  the  East,  which  even  seemed  to  be  animated 
with  new  life;  there  was  still  a  Holy  Empire, 
which  even  did  its  utmost  to  perform  its  duties 
as  protector  of  the  Church  during  the  disorders 
of  the  Great  Schism ;  and  there  still  survived 


CH.  ra.]  The  Empire  of  the  East.  33 

the  illusion  and  even  the  heroic  enterprises  of  the 
Crusades.  In  the  fifteenth  century  the  Schism 
and  the  Mussulman  still  preoccupy  and  trouble 
Joan  of  Arc.  In  the  interval  between  two  battles 
the  knights  of  the  West  vow  on  the  pheasant  the 
extermination  of  the  infidel. 

Nevertheless,  the  infidel  captured  Constantino- 
ple. Europe,  which  had  sought  combats  with  him 
in  his  own  country,  permitted  the  Turk  to  trans- 
form the  patriarchal  church  of  St.  Sophia  into 
a  mosque.  Europe  left  to  the  petty  states  of  the 
Balkan  Peninsula  the  task  of  stopping  the  Asia- 
tic on  the  road  that  led  to  the  heart  of  the  Con- 
tinent. The  most  Christian  King  of  France,  the 
Catholic  King  of  Spain,  and  the  Pope  himself 
weighed  the  price  of  an  alliance  with  the  Otto- 
mans, and  allowed  such  an  alliance  to  enter  as  an 
element  in  their  political  calculations — a  sure  in- 
dication that  a  period  in  the  history  of  Europe  is 
concluded. 

Thus  it  is  now  necessary  for  us  to  trace  the  his- 
tory of  the  various  countries  of  the  West  and  the 
East  from  the  time  of  Charlemagne  to  about  the 

O 

end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

§  2.  The  Empire  of  the  East. 

During  this  long  period  the  contrast  between 
the  West  and  the  East  became  more  and  more 
marked. 

a 


34  The  Middle  Ages.  ccn.  m. 

The  Empire  in  the  West  was  a  power  almost 
ideal,  without  a  fixed  territory,  without  even  a 
name,  for  the  periphrase  by  which  it  was  desig- 
nated, "  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  of  the  German 
Nation,"  was  not  a  name.  The  Empire  in  the 
East  was  a  real  sovereignty,  exercised  over  a  defi- 
nite region,  and  bearing  a  national  name,  that  of 
"  Romania." 

The  Empire  in  the  West  was  divided  into  two 
powers — one  spiritual,  the  other  temporal.  In  the 
East  the  Empire  did  not  tolerate  by  its  side  a  sa- 
cerdotal monarchy,  independent  of  the  civil  power. 
The  /SaGifavg  was  a  sort  of  pope-king.  At  the 
very  time  when  the  Papacy,  having  become  all- 
powerful,  ruled  over  the  kings  of  the  West,  the 
schism  separated  Constantinople  from  Rome. 

The  Byzantine  Empire  was  thus  more  coherent 
and  stronger  than  its  rival.  But  it  had  to  cope 
with  three  distinct  enemies:  an  internal  enemy 
consisting  of  ethnographical  groups,  which  were 
established  on  its  territory,  but  which  it  had  not 
assimilated ;  and  two  external  enemies,  the  Cath- 
olic West  and  the  Moslem  East. 

A  threefold  question  presented  itself  concerning 
the  destiny  of  this  Empire.  Would  the  nations 
established  within  its  territory  remain  in  possession 
of  it,  and  the  Balkan  Peninsula  be  divided,  already 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  into  petty  independent  states? 
Would  the  West  seize  Constantinople  and  the 


CH.  ni.]  The  Empire  of  the  East.  35 

Balkan  Peninsula  ?  Or,  perchance,  would  Con- 
stantinople and  the  Peninsula  become  the  prey  of 
Asia? 

The  time  arrived  when  the  nations  of  the  Balkan 
Peninsula  were  successful.  In  the  ninth  century 
Bulgaria  became  a  powerful  state,  and  Slavic  prin- 
cipalities were  established ;  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury Servia  was  an  empire. 

At  one  time  the  West  regarded  itself  as  master 
of  the  East.  Papal  and  knightly  Europe  had  un- 
dertaken the  Crusades  to  regain  from  the  infidels 
the  holy  places  wrested  from  the  /faffi^eug.  For 
this  purpose  many  thousands  of  men  had  been  sent 
to  Asia.  The  Emperor  of  the  East,  who  was  much 
superior  to  these  barbarians  in  politics,  had  de- 
ceived them.  He  had  recovered,  by  means  of  the 
first  Crusades,  parts  of  Asia  Minor  which  his  em- 
pire had  lost.  But  the  merchants  of  Venice  also 
were  statesmen.  Circumstances  gave  them  the  di- 
rection of  the  Fourth  Crusade  ;  and  the  Christian 
barons,  who  were  as  covetous  as  the  Republic  of 
the  Lagunes,  divided  the  Empire  in  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  Thus  there  ruled  at 
Constantinople  a  Flemish  emperor ;  at  Thessalo- 
nica,  an  Italian  king ;  in  Achaia,  at  Naxos,  and  at 
Athens,  petty  dynasties ;  while  Venice  took  pos- 
session of  Crete  and  the  Peloponnesus. 

As  to  the  Asiatic,  the  third  of  the  possible  con- 
querors of  the  Byzantine  Empire,  he  constantly 


36  The  Middle  Ages.  [CE.  m. 

attacked  the  latter.  After  the  Arab  Empire, 
which  included  Asia,  Africa,  Spain,  and  Sicily, 
had  fallen,  the  Ottoman  emir  in  Asia  became  a 
formidable  neighbor. 

Against  all  these  enemies  the  fiaGifavg  defended 
himself  with  a  constancy  and  skill  that  compel 
admiration.  Such  was  the  vitality  of  the  "  sick 
man"  of  this  time  that  he  recovered  from  the 
strange  catastrophe  of  the  Fourth  Crusade.  At 
the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century  he  reconquered 
Constantinople.  The  Empire,  thus  restored,  re- 
commenced the  conquest  of  the  Peninsula;  it  re- 
gained its  three  seas,  and  pushed  its  dominion  to 
the  Peloponnesus.  It  seemed  to  be  strong  enough 
to  prevail  over  the  Slavs,  the  Bulgarians,  the 
principalities  of  Epirus,  Achaia,  and  Athens,  and 
over  Venice.  But  the  power  of  the  Turks  in  Asia 
grew  stronger  and  stronger. 

In  Asia  there  was  a  great  reserve  of  men  and 
soldiers,  led  by  a  dynasty  of  absolute  chiefs,  who 
all  desired  one  and  the  same  thing.  The  great 
conflict  between  these  Turks  and  the  Byzan- 
tine Empire  is  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  Finally  Con- 
stantinople became  the  capital  of  the  Ottoman 
state,  which  embraced  the  whole  peninsula  from 
the  Save  to  Cape  Matapan,  excepting  the  heroic 
Montenegro,  and  certain  points  that  remained  Ve- 
netian. 


OH.  m.]  The  Empire  of  the  West.  37 

Thus  Asia  took  revenge  on  Europe  for  the  Per- 
sian Wars,  and  for  the  conquests  of  Alexander,  the 
Romans,  the  Byzantine  Emperor,  and  the  cru- 
saders. She  was  destined  to  extend  her  empire 
in  the  Mediterranean  by  the  conquest  of  certain 
islands  and  of  Africa,  and  toward  central  Europe 
by  the  progress  of  the  Turks  along  the  Danube. 
In  this  condition  the  Eastern  Question  was  to  re- 
main a  long  time ;  Slavs,  Bulgarians,  Albanians, 
Roumanians,  and  Greeks  slept  under  the  sway  of 
the  scimitar  and  the  crescent ;  but  they  only  slept. 

§  3.   The  Empire  of  the   West. 

After  the  death  of  Charlemagne  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal and  imperialist  party  tried  in  vain  to  maintain 
the  unity  of  the  Empire.  The  force  of  circum- 
stances, permanently  felt  amid  the  accidents  of 
politics  and  chance,  had  separated  Germany, 
France,  and  Italy ;  but  the  separation,  begun  with 
the  Treaty  of  Verdun  in  843,  was  not  complete. 

These  three  countries  were  not  states,  for  a 
state  is  an  organized  political  entity ;  there  were 
no  states,  properly  speaking  (at  least  no  great 
states),  before  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Nor 
were  they  nations  ;  a  nation  is  a  definitely  formed, 
conscious,  and  responsible  person ;  there  were  no 
real  nations  on  the  Continent  before  our  own 
times. 


38  The  Middle  Ages.  [CH.  in. 

In  the  ninth  century  France  and  Germany  had 
not  yet  received  their  names.  Charles  the  Bald 
was  king  of  the  Franks ;  Lewis  the  German  was 
also  king  of  the  Franks.  They  were  distinguished 
by  the  points  of  the  compass.  Charles  ruled  over 
"  the  Western  Franks,"  Lewis  over  "  the  Eastern 
Franks."  Gradually  and  very  slowly  each  of  the 
two  countries  worked  out  its  own  destiny. 

As  for  Germany  and  Italy,  they  were  bound 
together  by  the  restoration  of  the  Empire  in  the 
tenth  century.  Thenceforth  the  same  personage 
was  at  once  king  in  Germany,  king  in  Italy,  and 
Emperor.  Germany  and  Italy  were  the  habitation 
of  the  priesthood  and  of  the  Empire — an  honor  of 
considerable  and  prolonged  consequence  for  the 
future  of  both  countries. 

§  4.  Empire  and  Church — Consequences  for  Ger- 
many. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  the  most  active  man  in  the 
world,  and  the  most  singular  political  personage, 
was  the  Emperor-King.  He  did  not  succeed  in  gain- 
ing recognition  as  a  universal  monarch,  and  did 
not  even  become  the  monarch  of  any  one  nation. 
Not  knowing  what  name  to  assume,  he  called  him- 
self briefly  imperator.  His  legal  capital  was  Rome, 
but  he  did  not  reside  there.  He  had  no  capital  in 
Germany.  He  had,  in  fact,  no  fixed  habitation. 

In  the  period  of  Carolingian  decadence  the  cus- 


CH.  in.]  Empire  and  Church — Germany.  39 

tom  of  electing  kings  had  been  regularly  estab- 
lished. Thus  it  was  necessary  to  be  elected  in 
order  to  become  king  of  Germany.  On  the  other 
hand,  to  become  Emperor  the  person  elected  king 
had  to  be  crowned  by  the  Pope  at  Rome.  If  the 
German  king  had  been  simply  a  king,  he  would 
doubtless  have  been  able  to  dispense  with  the  elec- 
tion, as  the  Capetians  did  in  France  after  the  fifth 
royal  generation.  But  he  was  at  the  same  time 
Emperor ;  and  the  Pope  never  admitted  that  the 
imperial  dignity  was  hereditary,  or  that  the  coro- 
nation was  to  be  considered  a  vain  formality.  The 
Pope  combined  with  the  German  princes  to  per- 
petuate the  custom  of  election,  which  placed  the 
elect  at  the  mercy  of  the  electors,  and  obliged  him 
to  make  terms  with  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  Hence 
in  Germany  there  was  not  the  continuity  of  mon- 
archical policy  that  transformed  other  countries 
into  states,  which  afterward  became  nations. 

The  clearest  function  of  the  Emperor  being  his 
protectorship  of  the  Church,  he  had  to  look  af- 
ter the  welfare  of  the  Papacy,  and  raise  it  from 
the  disgraceful  condition  into  which  it  had  fallen 
in  the  tenth  century ;  then,  after  having  given  it 
strength  enough  to  combat  with  him,  he  found  it 
necessary  to  combat  with  it.  As  protector  of  the 
Church  and  as  king  of  Italy,  he  was  entangled  in 
all  the  affairs  of  the  Peninsula,  where  he  found 
allies  and  also  enemies. 


40  Toe  Middle  Ages.  ten.  m. 

As  for  Germany,  she  was  one  of  the  theatres  of 
the  conflict  between  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope. 
Not  merely  the  ecclesiastical,  but  also  the  secular 
princes,  favoring  the  disorder  which  increased  their 
independence,  sided  with  the  Pope  against  the  Em- 
peror. 

From  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  Ger- 
many was  merely  an  anarchical  federation  of  prin- 
cipalities and  republics.  There  was  no  longer  any 
collective  national  life,  no  national  army,  finance, 
or  judiciary.  Everywhere  war  prevailed,  and 
there  was  no  longer  any  law  save  that  of  the  fist 
(FaustrecJii).  To  protect  themselves,  princes  and 
cities  formed  leagues  for  the  maintenance  of  peace ; 
these  leagues  themselves  were  militant,  for  they 
waged  war  to  prevent  war. 

Over  this  disorder  a  monarch  presided  who  still 
called  himself  Emperor.  But  at  the  close  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  under  the  trappings  of  this 
title,  he  was  only  a  petty  German  prince,  exploit- 
ing his  high  office  to  make  the  fortune  of  his 
house.  Thus  the  Luxemburgs,  poor  squires  of  the 
country  of  Ardennes,  and  the  Hapsburgs,  small 
seigneurs  of  the  country  of  Argovia,  secured  a 
family  domain.  "  Everyone  for  himself  "  was  the 
motto  of  Germany  at  this  time.  Hence  the  coun- 
try which  in  the  tenth  century  seemed  to  be 
nearer  to  unity  than  any  other  Carolingian  land, 
sank  into  anarchy. 


CH.  ra.]  Empire  and  Church — Italy.  41 


§  5.   Consequences  for  Italy. 

Italy  was  no  more  predestined  to  be  divided 
than  Germany.  The  fact  that  we  were  long  accus- 
tomed to  see  these  two  countries  divided,  leads 
one  to  think  that  they  followed  their  natural  bent ; 
but  there  is  nothing  to  prove  that  unity  was  more 
difficult  to  establish  in  Germany  and  Italy  than  in 
other  regions.  Without  doubt  their  geography 
places  obstacles  in  the  way  of  unity ;  but  are  not 
such  obstacles  also  to  be  found  in  Spain,  and  even 
in  France  ?  In  fact,  the  great  divergence  between 
the  destinies  of  France  and  Germany,  or  Spain  and 
Italy,  has  been  created  by  history. 

In  France  a  Germanic  people,  the  Franks — 
established  on  Gallo-Roman  soil,  mingling  their 
blood,  spirit,  and  laws  with  the  blood,  spirit,  and 
laws  of  the  ancient  population — became  the  arti- 
san of  a  new  nationality.  In  Italy  this  same  end 
could  have  been  attained,  first  by  the  Ostrogoths, 
and  afterward  by  the  Lombards.  The  Papacy, 
however,  considered  them  as  strangers  and  ene- 
mies. When  the  Lombards  were  on  the  point  of 
occupying  Rome,  the  Pope  summoned  the  Franks. 
In  Northern  Italy  Charlemagne  superseded  the 
king  whom  he  had  conquered ;  but  in  the  South 
he  left  in  existence  Lombard  duchies,  and  countries 
under  the  Byzantine  dominion.  He  and  Pipin 


42  The  Middle  Ages.  [CH.  m. 

founded  a  papal  state.  These  southern  duchies,  the 
principality  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  kingdom  of  the 
north  mark  the  beginning  of  Italian  polyarchy. 

The  Empire  having  apparently  sunk  in  the  ship- 
wreck of  the  Carolingian  family,  attempts  were 
made  to  found  an  Italian  monarchy.  But  the 
Pope  terminated  them  by  restoring  the  Empire ; 
and  he  placed  the  Peninsula  under  the  Teutonic 
yoke,  which  was  so  odious  to  the  Italians,  and 
which  was  perpetuated  in  divers  forms  to  our  day. 

The  Papacy  inaugurated  a  formidable  game  by 
opposing  barbarians  against  barbarians.  To  drive 
the  German  Hohenstaufens  from  the  kingdom  of 
the  Two  Sicilies,  a  Pope,  in  the  second  half  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  summoned  the  Angevins  of 
France. 

It  would  be  displaying  lack  of  intelligence  to 
accuse  the  mediaeval  Papacy  of  offending  against 
an  Italian  nationality,  which  had  no  existence. 
The  Pope  could  be  neither  the  vassal  of  a  city  nor 
the  vassal  of  a  country  without  forfeiting  some  of 
his  dignity,  which  was  the  highest  in  the  world. 
It  was  his  defined  function  or  office  to  adopt  a 
universal  policy ;  and  he  sought  thereby  to  guar- 
antee the  independence  and  power  of  the  See  of  the 
Apostles.  At  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages  he  be- 
came an  Italian  prince,  and  adopted  an  Italian  pol- 
icy ;  but  this  compromised  the  Papacy,  and  even 
the  Church. 


CH.  ra.3  Expansion  of  Italy.  43 

Nevertheless,  Machiavelli,  considering  the  mat- 
ter from  an  Italian  point  of  view,  was  right  in  at- 
tributing to  the  Popes  the  disorganization  of  Italy, 
to  which  they  at  least  largely  contributed. 

As  in  Germany,  so  in  Italy,  at  first,  from  the 
tenth  to  the  thirteenth  century,  feudal  principali- 
ties and  republics  were  established ;  then,  from  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  to  the  end  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  most  of  the  republics  were  trans- 
formed into  principalities.  In  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury Milan,  Florence,  the  Papal  State,  the  oli- 
garchic republic  of  Venice,  and  the  kingdom  of 
Naples  formed  a  pentarchy,  each  of  them  looking 
after  its  own  separate  interests,  and  none  of  them 
acquainted  with  the  sentiment  of  Italian  patriot- 
ism. 

§  6.  Expansion  of  Italy. 

Anarchy  in  Germany  and  polyarchy  in  Italy 
do  not  mean  that  Germany  and  Italy  were  inert. 
Not  having  a  common  master,  nor  a  common  life, 
nor  collective  patriotism,  these  countries  suffered 
the  evils  of  constant  civil  war.  Moreover,  in  mod- 
ern times  they  became  the  battle-fields  of  European 
politics.  But  there  is  some  compensation  in  not 
having  a  government  which  employs  all  its  powers 
in  a  well-defined  policy.  Italy  was  broken  in  frag- 
ments, but  lived  a  life  all  the  more  intense,  because 
it  was  in  conformity  with  the  natural  aptitudes  of 


44  The  Middle  Ages.  ECH.  m. 

each  section.  If  an  Italian  monarchy  had  had  its 
seat  at  Rome,  Rome  would  have  lost  its  incom- 
parable originality  as  a  sacerdotal  and  universal 
city,  and  history  would  not  have  known  of  Floren- 
tine or  Venetian  energy. 

Already  the  Renaissance  had  begun.  It  was  a 
natural  product  of  the  classical  Italian  soil,  but 
polyarchy  favored  its  development,  and  permitted 
its  free  and  varied  growth.  While  waiting  for 
the  Italian  spirit  to  expand  over  all  Europe,  the 
great  Italian  cities  ruled  the  Mediterranean.  They 
formed  the  medium  of  communication  between  the 
Orient  and  the  Occident,  and  thus  rapidly  grew 
rich.  They  invented  and  perfected  commercial  in- 
stitutions, such  as  the  consulate,  exchange,  and  the 
bank.  The  bankers  of  France  were  called  Lom- 
bards ;  and  Italian  money  was  current  throughout 
all  Western  Europe,  where  people  reckoned  by 
ducats,  the  money  of  the  two  dogal  towns,  Genoa 
and  Venice,  and  by  florins,  on  which  was  impressed 
the  flower  of  Florence. 

There  was  something  like  a  Mediterranean  em- 

O 

pire  of  Italy.  For  Genoa  possessed  Corsica  and 
Sardinia,  and  Venice  owned  a  large  part  of  the 
Adriatic  coast  and  many  of  the  islands  of  the  Ar- 
chipelago. In  fact,  before  the  arrival  of  the  Turks 
Venice  ruled  over  three-eighths  of  the  old  Greek 
Empire. 


CH.  in.]  Expansion  of  Germany.  45 


§  7.  Expansion  of  Germany  in  the  North  and 
East — The  Three  Zo'nes. 

German  anarchy  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  very 
energetic  and  fruitful. 

Carolingian  Germany  was  almost  comprised  in 
the  country  situated  between  the  Rhine  and  the 
Elbe.  It  was  capable  of  expansion  in  three  direc- 
tions :  toward  the  south  natural  highways,  extend- 
ing over  the  mountains,  led  invitingly  into  Italy ; 
on  the  west,  between  France  and  Germany,  lay  a 
region — bounded  by  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse,  the 
Rhone  and  the  Alps — whose  political  destiny  was 
uncertain,  for  it  was  exposed  to  the  competition 
of  the  two  nations  ;  and  on  the  north  and  east  an 
immense,  undefined  stretch  of  territory  was  open 
to  German  colonization. 

It  was  official  or  imperial  Germany  which  inter- 
fered in  Italy,  where,  with  a  few  rare  exceptions, 
she  wrought  mischief.  In  the  west  Germanic  ac- 
tivity was  early  impeded,  then  arrested,  by  France. 
In  a  large  part  of  the  third  region  Germany  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  a  foothold. 

O 

The  northern  and  eastern  frontier  of  Germany 
was  in  Carolingian  times  that  of  Christianity.  To 
extend  this  frontier,  and  keep  extending  it,  until 
the  last  pagan  submitted,  was  converted,  and  be- 
came the  faithful  subject  of  both  Pope  and  Em- 


46  The  Middle  Ages.  [CH.  ra. 

peror,  was  the  necessary  foreign  policy  or  func- 
tion of  the  Empire,  which  had  been  restored  the 
first  time  in  the  year  800,  and  a  second  time  in 
962. 

In  Charlemagne's  time  a  multitude  of  pagan 
and  barbarian  tribes  were  ranged  in  echelons 
along  the  Christian  frontier,  and  they  extended 
into  the  unknown  region  of  the  European  Far- 
East  and  into  the  peninsula  of  the  north. 

At  the  mouths  of  the  Elbe  were  the  Scandina- 
vians; all  along  the  Elbe  and  the  Saale,  from  the 
shores  of  the  Baltic  to  the  mountains  of  Bohemia, 
were  the  Slavic  Polabi;  in  Bohemia,  the  Slavic 
Tsechs;  on  the  Danube,  Turanian  hordes  of 
Avars,  who  were  afterward  displaced  by  the  Mag- 
yars ;  and  in  the  southeast,  as  far  as  the  Adri- 
atic, other  Slavic  tribes.  Behind  this  first  zone  of 
tribes,  with  most  of  which  Charlemagne  had  come 
in  contact,  a  second,  entirely  Slavic,  extended  from 
north  to  south,  comprising  Pomerania,  Poland, 
and  Silesia.  Still  farther  away,  along  the  eastern 
Baltic,  lived  Finns  and  Lithuanians;  and  in  the 
great  plain  beyond  them,  the  Russians. 

The  task  of  bringing  all  these  tribes  within  the 
bounds  of  Christian  civilization  should  have  been 
divided  between  the  Empires  of  the  East  and 
West.  But  the  Empire  of  the  East  could  barely 
defend  its  own  life,  and  the  Empire  of  the  West 
united  the  forces  of  Germany  under  its  command 


CH.  in.]      Progress  of  Germany  in  the  First  Zone.  47 

during  only  a  very  short  time.  Hence  the  Chris- 
tianizing and  civilizing  work  was  performed  al- 
most entirely  by  private  enterprise. 


§  8.  Progress  of  Germany  in  the  first  Zone. 

From  the  Scandinavians  Germany  won  nothing. 
The  three  kingdoms — Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Nor- 
way —  were  established  and  Christianized  in  the 
tenth  century.  But  to  be  Christianized  meant  to 
acquire  the  right  to  live.  Every  time  that  a  people 
entered  the  Church,  the  Europe  of  the  future  was 
enriched  by  a  new  recruit.  Denmark,  a  neighbor 
of  the  Empire,  had  relations  with  the  latter ;  and 
at  times  her  king  was  a  sort  of  vassal  of  the  Em- 
peror ;  but  her  ordinary  status  was  one  of  inde- 
pendence. The  Scandinavian  kings  were  soon 
able  to  contend  with  the  Germans  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Baltic,  that  sombre  Mediterranean  upon 
which  were  fought  so  many  obseure  and  violent 
battles  between  competing  tribes. 

On  the  other  hand,  Germany  extended  her 
boundaries  very  quickly  in  the  region  of  the  Slavs 
of  the  Elbe,  where  she  ever  afterward  retained 
her  dominion.  At  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century 
the  Slavs  of  the  country  between  the  Saale  and 
the  Elbe  were  Germanized  and  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity. This  was  the  work  of  the  margraves  of 


48  The  Middle  Ages.  [CH.  m. 

Lusatia  and  Misnia.  The  Slavs  of  the  country 
between  the  Elbe  and  the  Oder  were  in  great  part 
exterminated.  This  was  the  work  of  the  dukes  of 
Saxony  and  of  "the  Margraves  of  the  North,"  who 
in  the  twelfth  century  assumed  the  name  of  Mar- 
graves of  Brandenburg,  a  name  destined  to  become 
celebrated.  The  Slavs  of  the  shores  of  the  Baltic 
received  throngs  of  colonists ;  their  princes  were 
Germanized,  and  their  country,  Mecklenburg,  be- 
came a  trans-Elbine  prolongation  of  Lower  Ger- 
many. Thus  the  whole  northern  part  of  the  first 
zone  was  acquired  by  Germany. 

The  Tsechs  in  Bohemia  defended  themselves 
more  successfully ;  their  dukes  became  kings  and 
Christians,  which  circumstance  saved  them.  It  is 
true  that  they  were  vassals  of  the  Emperor ;  and 
the  crown  of  Bohemia,  which  was  elective,  was 
finally  attached  to  the  head  of  German  princes, 
the  Hapsburgs.  But  the  destiny  of  the  Tsechs 
was  very  different  from  that  of  the  Slavs  of 
the  North.  They  preserved  their  race,  language, 
and  peculiar  genius.  Hence  there  is  a  Tsech  ques- 
tion in  Austria  at  the  present  day.  There  is  no 
Polabian  question,  because  the  Polabi  have  dis- 
appeared. 


cH.m.]     Progress  of  Germany  in  the  Second  Zone.         49 

§  9.  Progress  of  Germany  in  the  Second  Zone. 

The  Germans  naturally  made  less  progress  in 
the  zone  of  the  Oder.  Pomerania,  Poland,  and 
Silesia  received  crowds  of  German  colonists — hus- 
bandmen, merchants,  artisans,  and  soldiers.  But 
the  duchy  of  Pomerania  maintained  an  indigenous 
dynasty  until  the  seventeenth  century;  and  the 
Germans  in  this  country  encountered  the  competi- 
tion of  the  Scandinavians.  Silesia,  which  broke 
up  into  duchies  and  principalities,  belonged  to  no 
one  ruler. 

Already  in  the  Middle  Ages  Poland  was  prepar- 
ing the  way  for  the  disasters  of  the  future.  She 
allowed  Pomerania  to  escape  from  her  grasp,  a 
country  which  would  have  given  her  a  seaboard ; 
and  also  Silesia,  whose  mountains  would  have 
sheltered  her.  She  remained  a  kingdom  wholly 
exposed  on  every  side.  She  did  not  succeed  in  se- 
curing consolidation  or  organization.  Her  feudal 
cavalry  while  on  the  gallop  made  conquests  which 
she  did  not  preserve.  She  was  not  able  to  produce 
a  royal  race,  and  her  elective  crown  was  open  to 
the  competition  of  foreign  families.  Nevertheless, 
Poland  was  a  Slavic  Christian  kingdom,  more  in- 
dependent than  Bohemia.  Germany,  which  in  the 
north  encountered  a  Scandinavia,  met  with  a  Sla- 
vonia  in  the  east.  The  Europe  of  the  future  became 
more  complicated  in  proportion  to  its  expansion. 
4 


50  The  Middle  Ages.  [CH.m. 

§  10.  Progress  of  Germany  in  the    Third  Zone. 

Germany  penetrated  as  far  as  the  third  zone. 
Here  the  Finns  were  peopling  Finland,  and  were 
advancing  along  the  coasts  of  Livonia  and  Es- 
thonia.  Next  to  them,  on  the  south,  came  various 
Indo-European  tribes — Lithuanians,  Lettes,  and 
Prussians — extending  from  the  interior  of  Livonia 

O 

to  the  mouth  of  the  Vistula.  Inimical  to  each 
other,  pagans,  still  remaining  in  the  impotent  state 
of  primitive  barbarism,  these  tribes  of  the  eastern 
Baltic,  while  awaiting  the  still  far-distant  awak- 
ening of  Russia,  were  the  prey  of  the  nations 
of  the  West.  Sweden  took  possession  of  Finland 
and  Carelia ;  Denmark  secured  Esthonia.  But 
the  greatest  acquisitions  were  made  by  the  Ger- 
mans. 

The  Hanse,  a  league  of  German  merchants  who 
were,  after  their  fashion,  both  soldiers  and  crusad- 
ers, covered  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  with  their 
federated  emporiums.  A  knightly  German  order, 
that  of  the  Sword-bearers,  was  founded  even  at 
Riga.  Another,  that  of  the  Teutonic  Knights, 
started  in  Palestine,  and  there  had  a  brilliant  ca- 
reer ;  then,  after  having  been  exiled  from  the  Holy 
Land,  it  established  itself  in  Prussia.  Knowing 
how  to  conquer  and  to  govern,  it  founded  a  state 
which  is  one  of  the  curiosities  of  history.  The 
two  orders,  having  united  under  one  grand-master 


CH.  m.]       Progress  of  Germany  on  the  Danube.  51 

in  the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
ruled  over  a  vast  and  rich  country.  Its  two 
principal  provinces,  Livonia  and  Prussia,  filled 
with  German  colonists,  were  like  an  exterior  Ger- 
many, a  German  vanguard  in  the  European  Far- 
East.  In  the  north,  this  dominion  extended  as 
far  as  the  Narva ;  on  the  south,  a  series  of  con- 
quests, made  at  the  expense  of  Pomerania  and 
Poland,  placed  the  German  Knights  in  communi- 
cation with  the  German  margraves  of  Branden- 
burg. 

§  11.  Progress  of  Germany  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Danube. 

Southeast  of  Germany,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Danube,  the  path  of  expansion  was  narrower  than 
in  the  north,  and  more  difficult.  The  valley  of 
the  river  contracts  between  the  projecting  moun- 
tains of  Bohemia  and  those  of  the  Alps.  More- 
over, Bavaria  could  not  furnish  a  contingent  of 
emigrants  so  large  as  that  of  North  Germany, 
with  her  great  plain  and  immense  seaboard. 

At  the  point  where  the  Danube  valley  widens, 
the  Hungarian  horde  finally  fixed  its  permanent  en- 
campment. Like  the  Danes,  Bohemians,  and  Poles, 
the  Hungarians  entered  the  history  of  Europe  on 
the  day  when  they  were  converted  to  Christianity. 
They  had  relations  with  the  Empire,  but  they  rec- 


52  The  Middle  Ages.  [CH.  m. 

ognized  its  suzerainty  only  a  short  time.  Their 
elective  crown,  like  that  of  the  Bohemians,  be- 
came permanently  attached  to  the  heads  of  the 
Hapsburgs.  But  the  Hungarian  remained  Hun- 
garian, even  more  than  the  Tsech  remained  Tsech. 
Hence  there  is  at  the  present  day  an  Hungarian 
question,  as  there  is  a  Tsech  question ;  and  the 
Hapsburg  whose  function  it  is  to  solve  both,  will 
solve  neither. 

§  12.  Resume  of  the  Expansion  of  Germany. 

Thus  Germany  diffused  abroad  her  superfluous 
strength.  All  classes  of  her  population  compet- 
ed in  the  conquest,  colonization,  and  development 
of  an  immense  tract  of  country.  The  princes 
of  the  frontier  conquered  the  border-lands.  The 
knights  recruited  the  two  orders  (Teutonic  Knights 
and  Sword-bearers),  and  assisted  them  in  their 
conflicts  with  the  indigenous  population  by  cru- 
sades, incessantly  renewed.  The  regular  and 
secular  clergy  sent  missionaries,  monks,  priests, 
and  bishops.  The  merchants  built  new  cities,  or 
transformed  into  cities  various  villages  along  the 
coast  of  the  Baltic  and  along  the  river  banks. 
The  tool  of  the  German  artisan  and  the  plough  of 
the  German  peasant  brought  riches  where  bar- 
barism had  prevailed.  The  allurement  of  adven- 
tures, the  spirit  of  religious  proselytism,  the  hope 


en.  m.]       Resume  of  the  Expansion  of  Germany.  53 

of  gain  or  of  martyrdom,  the  love  of  independence, 
the  search  for  liberty  and  property,  attracted  these 
various  categories  of  emigrants  to  this  America. 
And  Germany,  which  stopped  at  the  Elbe  in  Caro- 
lingian  times,  now  extended  to  the  Niemen.  She 
had  subjugated  or  destroyed  many  enemies  of 
the  Christian  world,  those  that  Charlemagne  had 
known  and  fought,  and  others  whose  very  names 
he  had  never  heard. 

In  the  fifteenth  century,  it  is  true,  the  fortune 
of  the  Germans  declined.  Two  formidable  ene- 
mies appeared  simultaneously:  the  Turks,  who 
eventually  conquered  almost  the  whole  of  Hun- 
gary, and  menaced  the  German  possessions  on  the 
Danube ;  and  Poland,  which  took  the  offensive 
against  the  Germans,  after  her  union  with  Lithu- 
ania, the  great  unconquered  enemy  of  the  Teu- 
tonic Knights.  Poland  dismembered  the  prin- 
cipality of  the  Knights,  took  from  them  the 
mouths  of  the  Vistula,  and  made  Dantzig  a  roy-. 
al  Polish  city ;  thus  communication  was  cut  off 
between  Germany  and  the  Order — between  the 
main  body  of  the  army  and  the  vanguard,  which 
was  now  placed  in  a  very  perilous  position.  But 
the  Turkish  power  was  to  remain  barbarian  and 
Asiatic;  and  Poland  was  incapable  of  acquiring 
the  solidity  of  a  well-regulated  state.  The  cen- 
turies that  followed  were  to  witness  the  revenge 
of  Germany  on  Slav  and  Turk. 


54:  The  Middle  Ages.  [CH.  m. 


§  13.  Effects  of  this  Expansion  on  German  His- 
tory— Austria  and  Prussia 

This  development  of  German  power  is  not 
merely  a  great  event  in  the  history  of  Europe; 
its  effects  on  Germany  herself  were  very  impor- 
tant. On  the  disputed  frontier,  in  the  zone  of 
perpetual  conflict,  were  formed  and  developed  the 
two  states  which,  in  turn,  were  to  dominate  over 
Germany,  namely,  Austria  and  Prussia.  Both 
were  born  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy. 

The  cradle  of  Austria  was  the  Eastern  march, 
established  by  Charlemagne  on  the  Danube,  be- 
yond Bavaria,  at  the  very  gate  through  which 
have  passed  so  many  invaders  from  the  Orient. 
It  was  a  veritable  field  of  battle  of  the  German 
race,  lying  between  Slavic  Bohemia  and  Carinthia, 
and  confronted  first  by  the  Avar,  then  by  the  Hun- 
garian. Since  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  it 
belonged  to  the  Hapsburgs.  They  also  acquired, 
successively,  the  ancient  march  of  Carinthia, 
the  county  of  Tyrol,  and  Trieste.  These  ac- 
quisitions, together  with  the  march  of  Austria, 
formed  a  group  of  provinces,  half  German,  half 
Slavic,  which  extended  to  the  Adriatic  and  Italy, 
and  had  necessarily  relations  with  two  kingdoms  of 
the  Eastern  zone,  namely,  Bohemia  and  Hungary. 
Already,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  a  Hapsburg  of 


CH.  mo  Austria  and  Prussia.  55 

Austria  was  king  of  these  two  countries,  an  in- 
dex and  a  presage  of  the  future.  Two  centuries 
earlier  the  imperial  crown  had  already  been  worn 
by  a  Hapsburg;  and  since  the  fifteenth  century, 
although  still  elective  in  theory,  it  was  in  practice 
hereditary  in  the  Austrian  house.  This  was  an- 
other factor  in  the  future  destiny  of  the  Haps- 
burgs.  At  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages  they  were 
merely  poor  princes,  but  they  were  about  to  be- 
come the  foremost  monarchs  in  the  world. 

The  cradle  of  Prussia  was  the  march  of  Bran- 
denburg, between  the  Elbe  and  the  Oder,  in  the 
region  of  the  exterminated  Slavs.  It  was  a  poor 
country,  quite  flat,  and  swept  by  winds,  which 
heaped  up  the  sands  in  barren  hills.  By  persist- 
ent effort  this  march  conquered  the  right  to  ex- 
ist. It  had  already  survived  many  catastrophes, 
when,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  it 
became  the  property  of  the  Hohenzollerns.  Bran- 
denburg had  to  choose  between  the  alternatives 
of  increasing  in  extent  (for  a  fatherland  cannot  be 
constructed  out  of  a  morsel  of  plain)  or  of  perish- 
ing. It  increased  toward  the  ocean,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  Mecklenburg  and  Pomerania ;  and  also 
toward  the  mountains,  across  Lusatia  and  Silesia. 
It  was  the  great  German  champion  of  the  North- 
east, the  collaborator  of  the  Teutonic  Knights, 
with  whom,  at  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
it  desired  to  divide  Poland. 


56  The  Middle  Ages.  [cn.ra. 

This  harmony  between  the  margraves  and  the 
Teutonic  Order,  and  this  similarity  of  vocation, 
presaged  the  future.  The  time  was  near  at  hand 
when  the  Prussia  of  the  Teutonic  Knights  was  to 
be  united  to  the  march  of  Brandenburg  by  an  in- 
dissoluble bond.  Then  the  Brandenburg-Prussian 
state  was  to  proclaim  itself  the  heir  of  the  knights, 
priests,  merchants,  and  peasants  who  had  been  the 
pioneers  of  Germanism  beyond  the  Elbe. 

§  14.   I1  he  Intermediate  Region  between  Germany 
and  France. 

In  striking  contrast  with  the  enormous  advance 
of  Germany  in  the  East  was  the  decline  of  her 
power  in  the  West. 

The  history  of  the  region  between  Germany  and 
France  is  very  singular.  When  the  three  sons  of 
Lewis  the  Pious  divided  the  Empire  in  the  ninth 
century,  they  found  it  very  natural  to  give  the 
Emperor  Lothair  both  Rome  and  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
the  two  imperial  capitals ;  for  the  men  of  that 
time  had  no  sense  of  the  reality  of  things,  but 
followed  blindly  the  ideas  that  possessed  their 
minds.  Hence  Lothair  received  Italy  and  a  long 
strip  of  territory  between  the  Scheldt,  the  Meuse, 
and  the  Rhone,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Rhine  and 
the  Alps,  on  the  other.  Thus  there  was  placed  be- 
tween the  future  Germany  and  the  future  France 


en.  m.]        Region  between  Germany  and  France.  57 

a  field  of  combat,  which  has  already  witnessed,  and 
doubtless  will  again  witness,  many  battles. 

This  long  and  narrow  strip  was  soon  divided 
into  two  portions :  Burgundy,  between  the  Alps, 
the  Saone,  the  Rhone,  and  the  Mediterranean ;  and 
Lorraine,  to  the  north  of  Burgundy.  As  Germany 
was  at  first  much  stronger  than  France,  she  domi- 
nated both  regions ;  and  Lorraine  and  Burgundy 
became  countries  of  the  Empire.  But  the  impe- 
rial power  grew  weaker  just  when  the  kingdom  of 
France  was  growing  stronger.  Furthermore,  Ger- 
many was  not  well  protected  along  the  western 
frontier ;  nor  did  she  here  come  in  contact  with 
pagans,  as  in  the  East.  The  frontier,  moreover, 
was  not  sharply  defined  by  a  difference  of  lan- 
guage, race,  and  civilization.  Nor  were  there  on 
this  frontier  any  German  states  organized  for  war. 
While  margraves  guarded  the  course  of  the  Elbe, 
the  Rhine  became  "  the  highway  of  the  priests." 
German  energy,  so  conspicuous  in  the  East,  lan- 
guished in  these  principalities  of  archbishops, 
bishops,  and  abbots.  By  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century  the  Empire  had  lost  almost  all  its  western 
dependencies,  while  France  was  gaining  ground 
in  this  territory. 


58  ne  Middle  Ages.  [CH.ni. 


§  15.  Formation  of  France. 

When  France  was  detached  from  the  Empire, 
in  the  ninth  century,  of  all  three  imperial  regions 
she  was  the  one  which  seemed  least  likely  to 
form  a  nation.  There  was  no  unity  in  the  coun- 
try west  of  the  Scheldt,  the  Meuse,  and  the 
Rhone.  Various  principalities,  duchies,  or  coun- 
ties were  here  formed,  but  each  of  them  was 
divided  into  secular  fiefs  and  ecclesiastical  terri- 
tories. 

Over  these  fiefs  and  territories  the  authority  of 
the  duke  or  the  count,  which  was  supposed  to  rep- 
resent that  of  the  king,  was  exercised  only  in  case 
these  seigneurs  had  sufficient  power,  derived  from 
their  own  personal  estates. 

Destitute  of  domains  and  almost  starving,  the 
king,  in  official  documents,  asked  what  means  he 
might  find  on  which  to  live  with  some  degree  of 
decency.  From  time  to  time,  amid  this  chaos,  he 
discussed  the  theory  of  his  authority.  He  was  a 
lean  and  solemn  phantom,  straying  about  among 
living  men  who  were  very  rude  and  energetic. 
The  phantom  kept  constantly  growing  leaner, 
but  royalty  did  not  vanish.  People  were  accus- 
tomed to  its  existence,  and  the  men  of  those  days 
could  not  conceive  of  a  revolution.  By  the  election 
of  Hugh  Capet,  in  987,  royalty  became  a  reality, 


CH.  in.]  Formation  of  France.  59 

because  the  king,  as  Duke  of  Frtmcia,  had  lands, 
money,  and  followers. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  to  seek  a  plan  of  con- 
duct and  a  methodical  line  of  policy  in  the  actions 
of  the  Capetians,  for  they  employed  simultane- 
ously every  sort  of  expedient. 

During  more  than  three  centuries  they  had  male 
offspring ;  thus  the  chief  merit  of  the  dynasty  was 
that  it  endured.  As  always  happens,  out  of  the 
practice  developed  a  law ;  and  this  happy  accident 
produced  a  lawful  hereditary  succession,  which 
was  a  great  element  of  strength. 

Moreover,  the  king  had  a  whole  arsenal  of 
rights :  old  rights  of  Carolingian  royalty,  preserv- 
ing the  remembrance  of  imperial  power,  which  the 
study  of  the  Roman  law  was  soon  to  resuscitate, 
transforming  these  apparitions  into  formidable 
realities ;  old  rights  conferred  by  the  coronation, 
which  were  impossible  to  define,  and  hence  incon- 
testable ;  and  rights  of  suzerainty,  newer  and  more 
real,  which  were  definitely  determined  and  codified 
as  feudalism  developed,  and  which,  joined  to  the 
other  rights  mentioned  above,  made  the  king  pro- 
prietor of  France. 

These  are  the  elements  that  Capetian  royalty  con- 
tributed to  the  play  of  fortuitous  circumstances. 
Everything  turned  to  its  profit :  the  miseries  of 
the  Church,  which,  unarmed  in  the  midst  of  a 
violent  society,  claimed  the  royal  protection  from 


60  The  Middle  Ages,.  ten. ra. 

one  end  of  the  kingdom  to  the  other ;  and  also  the 
efforts  of  the  middle  classes  to  be  admitted  with 
well-defined  rights  into  feudal  society  (for  the  king, 
the  head  of  this  society,  was  the  natural  protector 
of  these  new-comers,  the  burgesses  of  the  French 
towns).  His  authority  was  thus  exercised,  out- 
side the  limits  of  his  own  particular  domain, 
throughout  the  whole  kingdom.  He  did  more : 
he  gradually  united  France  to  his  domain.  He 
acquired  petty  principalities,  such  as  the  counties 
of  Amiens,  Vermandois,  and  Valois.  By  right- 
ful authority  and  by  force  he  took  possession  of 
Normandy,  Anjou,  Maine,  Touraine,  and  Poitou. 
This  conquest,  which  the  wicked  imbecility  of  John 
of  England  facilitated,  insured  the  success  of  the 
Capetians.  From  that  time  onward  water  poured 
from  all  directions  into  the  great  central  stream. 
When,  in  the  war  against  the  Albigenses,  the 
Church  and  the  knights  of  the  North  destroyed  a 
feudal  dynasty  and  a  separate  civilization,  the  king 
acquired  Languedoc.  When  Philip  the  Fair,  by 
marriage,  gained  Champagne,  the  domain  of  the 
king  extended  to  the  imperial  frontier  as  well  as 
to  the  Mediterranean  and  the  ocean. 

§  16.  Expansion  of  France. 

In  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  while 
royalty  was  still  very  weak  and  anarchy  prevailed 
in  the  kingdom,  France,  like  Italy  and  Ger- 


en.  m.]  Expansion  of  France.  Gl 

many,  diffused  abroad  her  vital  energy.  Unfor- 
tunately she  had  not  within  reach,  like  Germany, 
an  undefined  region  inhabited  by  barbarians  and 
pagans,  that  is  to  say,  reputed  to  be  without  an 
owner  and  open  to  Christian  occupancy.  France 
threw  herself,  so  to  speak,  into  the  Crusades ;  she 
charged  herself  with  "  deeds  of  God  "  against  the 
infidel.  She  gave  kings  to  Jerusalem  and  Cyprus, 
dukes  to  Athens,  and  emperors  to  Constantinople. 
She  built  upon  this  holy  illusion  of  Christianity, 
not  without  profit  to  her  fame,  that  fame  which 
she  early  began  to  love  as  a  patrimony. 

Knights   of   France   also  founded   a   Christian 

o 

kingdom  in  Portugal,  upon  soil  which  was  then 
Moslem ;  others  wrested  South  Italy  from  the 
Saracens  and  Greeks  ;  but  neither  the  kingdom  of 
Portugal  nor  the  kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies  be- 
came French  territory. 

The  expansion  of  France  in  Europe  during  the 
Middle  Ages  was  pre-eminently  intellectual.  Her 
intellect  gave  expression  to  the  whole  civilization 
of  that  period — religious,  feudal,  and  knightly. 
The  French  wrote  heroic  poems,  built  castles  and 
cathedrals,  and  interpreted  the  texts  of  Aristotle 
and  the  Scriptures.  Their  songs,  buildings,  and 
scholastic  philosophy  verged  upon  perfection.  Al- 
ready independent,  already  mobile  and  sprightly, 
the  French  mind  freed  itself  from  tradition  and 
authority.  It  produced  the  aerial  grace  of  Gothic 


62  The  Middle  Ages.  ten.  m. 

art.  It  parodied  its  own  heroic  songs,  and  sculpt- 
ured caricatures  on  the  walls  of  its  monuments 
of  religion.  It  gave  as  companion  to  "  Monsieur 
Saint  Louis,"  who  lived  in  heaven,  Sire  de  Join- 
ville,  who  loved  the  earth,  especially  his  lands 
and  his  fine  castle  of  Champagne ;  he  avoided  the 
sight  of  these  possessions  when  he  wrent  on  the 
Crusade,  lest  tears  should  fill  his  eyes,  which  were 
not  prone  to  weep.  The  French  mind  produced 
prose — French  prose — as  well  as  poetry.  Among 
the  theologians  it  almost  produced  philosophers. 

Christian  Europe  copied  French  cathedrals,  re- 
cited French  heroic  and  humorous  songs,  and  thus 
learned  the  French  language.  Foreigners  spoke 
French  "  because  the  tongue  of  France  was  more 
delectable,  and  common  to  all  people."  Among  the 
Masters  of  Arts  in  the  Christian  world  the  most 
erudite  were  those  who  had  successfully  defended 
a  thesis  at  the  University  of  Paris.  Almost  all 
the  universities  of  Europe  were  like  swarms  of 
bees  from  the  hive  on  Mount  St.  Genevieve.  A 
proverb  said  that  the  world  was  ruled  by  three 
powers — the  Papacy,  the  Empire,  and  Learning ; 
the  first  residing  in  Rome,  the  second  in  Germany, 
the  third  in  Paris. 

Political  history  cannot  neglect  these  facts  of  in- 
tellectual progress.  In  other  countries  other  forms 
of  genius  have  been  characterized  by  power  and 
beauty.  None  has  been  as  radiant  as  that  of 


CH.  m.]  French  Patriotism.  63 

France.  The  light  which  she  diffused  throughout 
Christendom  contributed  to  the  formation  of  Eu- 
rope, by  creating  resemblances  between  widely 
different  nations.  In  the  Middle  Ages  this  was 
the  way  in  which  the  French  worked  for  the  wel- 
fare of  others. 

§17.    The  Royal  Policy — French  Patriotism. 

Soon  the  age  of  adventure  in  France  came  to  a 
close,  and  French  energy  was  absorbed  by  the  royal 
policy.  The  French  monarchs,  from  the  time  when 
they  began  to  take  possession  of  the  kingdom,  had 
had  a  policy.  They  were  entangled  by  family  in- 
terests in  the  affairs  of  Italy,  and,  consequently,  in 
those  of  Aragon ;  but  these  were  merely  acci- 
dental circumstances.  Toward  England,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  were  compelled  to  adopt  a  watch- 
ful and  permanent  policy. 

In  1066  a  vassal  of  the  French  king,  William, 
Duke  of  Normandy,  conquered  England,  and  be- 
came more  potent  than  his  feudal  lord.  His  suc- 
cessors, by  fortunate  alliances,  greatly  increased 
their  French  domain,  which  at  one  time  included 
the  whole  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  of  France. 
Hence  war  with  England  was  a  necessity. 

At  first  this  was  a  feudal  war  between  vassal 
and  lord,  men  of  the  same  country,  who  spoke  the 
same  language.  At  the  beginning  of  the  four- 


64  The  Middle  Ages.  [cam. 

teenth  century,  the  direct  line  of  the  Capetians 
died  out,  and  the  crown  of  France  was  contested 
by  two  French  princes,  one  of  whom  was  King 
Edward  of  England,  and  the  other,  Philip  of 
Valois.  The  war  which  broke  out  was  not  a  con- 
flict between  one  nation  and  another,  between  the 
genius  of  one  people  and  that  of  another ;  never- 
theless, it  continued,  and  was  fierce  as  well  as  long. 
From  year  to  year  the  hatred  against  the  English 
increased.  In  contact  with  the  foreigner,  France 
began  to  know  herself,  like  the  ego  in  contact  with 
the  non-ego.  Vanquished,  she  felt  the  disgrace  of 
defeat.  Acts  of  municipal  and  local  patriotism 
preceded  and  heralded  French  patriotism,  which 
finally  blossomed  out  in  Joan  of  Arc,  and  sancti- 
fied itself  with  the  perfume  of  a  miracle.  Out  of 
France  with  the  English  !  They  left  France,  and 
France  came  into  existence. 

She  existed  at  first  in  and  through  the  king, 
who,  in  his  living  flesh  and  in  his  privileged  blood, 
personified  the  idea,  still  too  abstract,  of  a  na- 
tive country.  War  itself,  with  its  cortege  of  mis- 
ery and  ruin,  made  royalty  all-powerful.  War 
mowed  down  the  nobility,  bankrupted  the  munici- 
palities, and  weakened  all  the  powers  of  resistance. 
It  permitted  the  king,  the  defender  of  the  coun- 
try, to  decree  general  measures,  to  make  laws,  to 
provide  himself  with  a  royal  army,  royal  finances, 
and  a  royal  administration.  In  a  word,  it  per- 


CH.  m.]    Progress  of  France  in  the  Intermediate  Region.       65 

fected  the  French  monarchy,  which  at  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century  was  one  of  the  greatest 
powers  in  Europe — in  fact,  the  greatest. 

tf 

§18.  Progress  of  France  in  the  Intermediate 
Region. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  intermediate  region 
between  Germany  and  France.  While  Germany 
coped  with  the  East,  and  France  with  the  'West, 
the  regions  of  Burgundy  and  Lorraine,  not  having 
in  themselves  a  sufficient  reason  for  independent 
existence,  and  not  knowing  what  they  ought  to  be- 
come, sank  into  inextricable  disorder. 

Burgundy  began  to  fall  to  pieces  at  the  very 
time  when  the  German  emperors  were  wearing  the 
crown  of  Aries.  In  the  thirteenth  century  there 
was  no  longer  a  separate  king  of  Aries,  no  royal 
titulary  to  represent  the  Burgundian  kingdom  in 
dealings  with  foreign  countries.  At  this  very 
juncture  the  crusade  against  the  Albigenses  ex- 
posed the  South  to  the  armies  and  state-craft  of  the 
Capetians.  One  of  the  consequences  of  this  event 
was  that  a  Capetian  prince  acquired  the  marqui- 
sate  of  Provence.  In  the  fourteenth  century  Ly- 
ons and  the  Dauphine  were  added  to  the  royal 
domain;  and  in  the  fifteenth  century  Provence 
became  the  immediate  possession  of  the  crown. 
Thus,  at  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  list  of 

5 


66  The  Middle  Ages.  [CH.IIL 

French  cities  included  Lyons — the  great  Roman 
city,  which  had  been  the  sanctuary  of  the  worship 
of  Augustus,  and  had  become  the  seat  of  the  pri- 
mate of  Gaul — Aries,  likewise  a  Roman  city,  after- 
ward the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  Burgundy,  and 
Marseilles,  the  oldest  city  in  Gaul. 

An  accident — the  conquest  of  England  by  the 
Normans — had  confined  the  efforts  of  the  Cape- 
tians  to  the  West ;  another  accident,  the  crusade 
against  the  Albigenses,  had  attracted  their  activ- 
ity to  the  south  of  the  Burgundian  region,  far 
from  their  proper  sphere  of  action.  Here  work 
of  a  confused  nature,  singular  experiments,  were 
in  progress:  the  Swiss  Confederation  and  Savoy 
were  beginning  to  take  form. 

The  Swiss  Confederation  was  born  in  Swabia, 
at  the  southwest  extremity  of  Germany.  Its  first 
additions  were  made  in  Swabia  and  Italy;  but 
toward  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  it  began 
to  expand  in  the  upper  valley  of  the  Rhone.  It 
lost  its  Germanic  character,  to  become  something 
very  distinct  and  peculiar,  a  league  of  peasants 
and  cities  grouped  in  cantons,  expanding  little  by 
little  despite  obstacles  of  nature  and  racial  differ- 
ences within  its  bounds. 

The  state  of  Savoy  was  born  on  the  frontier  of 
Burgundy  and  Italy.  It  seemed  at  first  as  though 
it  would  develop  on  Burgundian  soil.  The  counts 
of  Maurienne,  having  become  counts,  then  dukes, 


CH.  in.]  The  House  of  Burgundy.  67 

of  Savoy,  were  important  personages  on  that  side 
of  the  mountains.  But  the  progress  of  France 
and  of  the  Swiss  leagues  soon  held  them  in  check, 
and  drove  them  toward  Italy.  The  first  duke  of 
Savoy  was  also  prince  of  Piedmont.  The  forma- 
tion of  a  state,  at  once  cisalpine  and  transalpine, 
was  a  harbinger  of  the  future. 

§  19.  The  House  of  Burgundy. 

The  destiny  of  the  Lorraine  region  was  also 
uncertain.  Here  there  was  a  confused  state  of 
things :  countries  without  a  ruler,  like  Alsace ; 
principalities  like  the  duchy  which  retained  and 
perpetuated  the  name  of  Lorraine,  and  like  the 
duchies  and  counties  of  the  Netherlands ;  and 
ecclesiastical  feudal  lordships,  like  the  bishopric  of 
Liege.  In  the  midst  of  this  feudal  regime  with- 
out an  effective  lord,  the  cities — surrounded  by 
nobles  who  lived  by  war  —  were  nurseries  of  in- 
dustry and  the  greatest  commercial  centres  of 
Europe. 

An  attempt  was  made  by  the  dukes  of  Bur- 
gundy, princes  of  the  house  of  France,  to  reunite 
under  one  government  the  regions  of  Burgundy 
and  Lorraine. 

The  duchy  of  Burgundy  was  wholly  outside  the 
ancient  kingdom  of  Burgundy.  It  was  a  French 
fief,  which  never  had  anything  in  common  with 


68  The  Middle  Ages.  CCH.  ra. 

the  German  Empire.  One  of  the  first  Capeti- 
ans  gave  it  to  his  brother  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, and  one  of  the  first  of  the  Valois  gave  it  to 
his  son  in  the  fourteenth.  By  marriage,  inheri- 
tance, and  conquest,  a  considerable  domain  was 
rapidly  formed,  comprising  the  duchy  of  Bur- 
gundy, the  counties  of  Flanders,  Artois,  Rethel, 
and  Nevers,  which  were  all  fiefs  of  France ;  and 
Franche-Comte,  the  county  of  Namur,  Brabant, 
Hainault,  Zealand,  Holland,  Luxemburg,  etc.,  which 
were  lands  of  the  Empire.  Threatening  Alsace, 
the  duchy  of  Lorraine,  and  the  confederated  Swiss, 
this  Burgundian  state  represented  ancient  Lotha- 
ringia  accurately  enough  for  Charles  the  Bold  to 
make  an  attempt  to  restore  the  old  Lotharingian 
kingdom. 

Louis  XL  succeeded  in  shattering  this  power, 
which  had  prevented  France  from  making  any 
progress  toward  the  East,  and  which  had  even  de- 
prived her  of  lands  already  in  her  possession ;  for 
the  limits  of  the  Burgundian  state  in  the  north 
of  France  extended  at  one  time  to  the  Somme. 
France  regained  her  territory  by  acquiring  the 
duchy  of  Burgundy  and  the  cities  of  the  Somme. 

Freed  from  the  English,  unfettered  by  the  old 
feudal  system,  united  and  strong,  it  seemed  as 
though  France,  at  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
would  direct  her  attention  to  the  North  and  East. 
For  a  time  the  dormant  ambition  to  regain  for  the 


OH.  m.]  Formation  of  Spain.  69 

French  kingdom  the  old  frontiers  of  Gaul  awoke. 
But  the  French  kings  were  seized  with  the  mad 
desire — always  to  be  deplored  by  France  and 
Italy — to  wage  wars  in  Italy,  wars  which  soon 
became  European.  Thus  they  let  pass  their 
great  opportunity.  The  Swiss  Confederation  and 
Savoy  each  strengthened  its  power.  The  Nether- 
lands were  transferred  by  the  daughter  of  Charles 
the  Bold  to  the  house  of  Austria,  passing  later  on 
to  Spain.  Every  enterprise  of  France  against  these 
countries  was  destined  to  provoke  general  wars. 

All  this  territory  without  a  master,  between 
Germany  and  France,  was  a  region  of  incoherence, 
accident,  and  chance.  It  was  a  soil  suited  to  form 
peculiar  kinds  of  governments,  which  have  not  had 
their  parallel  in  the  rest  of  Europe,  such  as  the 
Swiss  league  ;  or  to  produce  agglomerations  of  ter- 
ritory, such  as  those  of  the  Burgundian  domain, 
which  were  not  at  all  necessary  in  their  origin, 
but  which,  by  enduring,  have  modified  history. 

§  20.  Formation  of  Spain. 

While  France  was  being  organized,  two  other 
new  states,  Spain  and  England,  were  undergoing 
this  same  process. 

Ever  since  Spain  had  been  conquered  by  the 
Saracens,  she  had  been  separated  from  Europe. 
In  order  to  understand  the  indifference  manifested 


70  The  Middle  Ages.  [CH.  ra. 

by  European  nations  toward  this  peninsula,  when 
they  were  sending  thousands  of  men  to  the  Holy 
Land,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that  no  one 
in  those  days  had  any  conception  of  a  European 
community.  This  age,  which  was  capable  of  find- 
ing precise  rules  of  daily  life,  and  of  organizing  a 
thousand  petty  governments  around  its  towers, 
spires,  and  belfries,  allowed  itself  to  be  guided  by 
sentiments  and  ideas  wholly  outside  the  world  of 
reality.  The  man  of  that  period  was  wont  to 
gaze  at  his  feet,  but  when  he  lifted  his  head,  his 
gaze  was  lost  in  the  vast  heavens. 

We  are  inclined  to  say  that  the  popes  and 
kinoes  would  have  done  well  to  attack  Islam  in 

O 

Europe  rather  than  in  Asia  ;  but  they  never  even 
thought  of  it.  They  were  actuated  by  the  feeling 
that  there  was  no  place  more  in  need  of  deliv- 
erance, none  whose  deliverance  would  bring  them 
more  credit,  than  the  spot  where  the  Saviour  had 
lived,  and  where  he  had  lain  buried  for  three  days. 
They  sent  only  a  few  isolated  knights  beyond  the 
Pyrenees,  and  left  to  Spain  the  task  of  delivering 
herself. 

The  conflict  lasted  more  than  seven  centuries. 
It  was  not  conducted  by  one  people  against 
another,  or  by  one  ruler  against  another ;  several 
Christian  kingdoms,  which  had  been  successively 
formed,  fought  with  several  small  Arab  states. 
In  the  fifteenth  century  the  aspect  of  the  Penin- 


CH.  ni.j  The  Kingdom  of  England.  71 

sula  became  less  complex.  There  were  then  only 
one  Arab  state,  that  of  Granada,  and  four  Chris- 
tian kingdoms :  Navarre,  Portugal,  Aragon,  and 
Castile.  Navarre,  which  had  been  the  most 
powerful  kingdom,  was  now  only  a  petty  Pyre- 
nean  state.  Portugal,  facing  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 
sought  her  fortune  in  that  direction.  Aragon, 
facing  the  Mediterranean,  already  coveted  the 
peninsula  and  islands  of  Italy.  Castile,  the  heart 
of  Spain,  was  the  last  combatant  of  the  Mussul- 
man, and  finally  conquered  Granada.  Soon  Cas- 
tile, Aragon,  Navarre,  and  Granada  were  united ; 
and  the  new  state  constituted  the  great  power  of 
Spain,  extending  along  both  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  ocean. 

§  21.   The  Kingdom  of  England. 

Like  the  great  peninsula  of  the  Southwest,  the 
islands  of  the  Northwest  remained  a  long  time  iso- 
lated from  the  rest  of  Europe.  The  Continent 
sent  them  armed  colonists,  who  were  superimposed 
in  layers  more  or  less  thick  upon  the  old  Celtic 
population.  The  successive  invaders  were :  Ro- 
mans, whose  last  and  least  durable  conquest  was 
Britain;  Anglo-Saxons  and  Scandinavians,  who  ar- 
rived in  great  numbers  in  a  series  of  migrations ; 
and,  finally,  Normans,  that  is  to  say,  an  army  from 
French  Normandy,  which  was  transformed  into  a 


72  The  Middle  Ages.  [cn.ra. 

permanent  colony,  and  which  in  the  course  of 
time  was  amalgamated  with  the  rest  of  the  popu- 
lation. 

The  conversion  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings  to 
Christianity  again  connected  their  island  with 
Christian  Europe.  Thus  was  born  a  Church  of 
England,  daughter  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
she  was  at  first  respectful  and  obedient.  The  con- 
quest of  England  by  the  Duke  of  Normandy,  a 
vassal  of  the  King  of  France,  also  implicated  the 
insular  realm  in  the  history  of  France,  and  con- 
sequently in  the  affairs  of  the  Continent.  But 
this  external  history  had  only  a  secondary  im- 
portance for  England. 

The  feudal  wars  of  the  English  kings  against 
their  suzerain,  the  King  of  France,  and  the  Hun- 
dred Years'  War  itself,  with  its  dramatic  reverses 
of  fortune,  count  in  the  general  history  of  England 
only  in  so  far  as  they  influenced  the  constitutional 
development  of  the  kingdom. 

The  England  of  that  time  was  a  small  countrv. 

O  v 

It  did  not  embrace  all  the  British  Isles  :  for  Wales, 
though  conquered,  remained  Wales  ;  Ireland,  like- 
wise conquered  by  the  Norman  kings,  remained 
Ireland;  and  Scotland  continued  to  be  a  separate 
kingdom.  In  the  Middle  Ages  England,  properly 
speaking,  had  the  appearance  of  a  great  French 
fief. 

By  the  first  Norman  kings  she  was  governed  as 


CH.  m.]  The  Kingdom  of  England.  73 

was  no  other  country  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
Normans  had  accustomed  themselves  to  habits  of 
discipline  and  order  in  the  piratical  expeditions 
which  the}7  used  to  undertake,  when  they  obeyed 
sea-kings  and  shared  their  booty.  These  habits 
they  retained  in  Normandy,  which,  in  consequence, 
was  the  only  French  territory  with  a  strong  ju- 
diciary and  internal  peace.  These  habits  they 
also  took  with  them  to  England.  They  divided 
the  country  among  themselves,  just  as  their  an- 
cestors had  formerly  divided  gold,  silver,  utensils, 
cattle,  and  captives.  They  calculated  the  exact 
value  of  their  conquest  by  undertaking  a  method- 
ical census  of  lands  and  men.  Thus  the  Anglo- 
Norman  kings  knew  exactly  what  property  and 
power  they  possessed,  things  of  which  the  Ger- 
man Emperor  was  wholly  ignorant,  and  concern- 
ing which  the  King  of  France  did  not  have  much 
knowledge. 

They  kept  under  discipline  all  their  subjects, 
whether  noble  or  not,  by  retaining  for  themselves 
and  their  officers  superior  judicial  authority  and 
the  direct  services  of  all  freemen.  They  had  vas- 
sals who  were  very  wealthy,  but  who  did  not  pos- 
sess principalities  consisting  of  contiguous  estates; 
who  were  landlords,  not  seigneurs.  The  small  ex- 
tent of  the  country  and  its  insular  isolation  were 
favorable  to  the  maintenance  of  good  order  by  the 
crown.  In  this  fragment  of  island,  between  the 


74  The  Middle  Ages.  [CH.  m. 

ocean  and  territories  inhabited  by  a  hostile  race, 
like  the  Welsh  and  the  Scots,  an  Englishman 
was  English,  and  only  English.  There  was  no 
fluctuating  frontier  nor  vague  zone  of  territory. 
There  was  no  great  seigneur  whose  homage  wav- 
ered between  two  masters  hostile  to  each  other, 
and  who  could  call  himself,  as  occasion  demanded, 
French  or  German,  like  the  Count  of  Flanders; 
French  or  Aragonese,  like  many  a  seigneur  in  the 
South;  vassal  of  the  King  of  France  or  of  the 
Emperor,  like  the  Count  of  Toulouse,  Marquis  of 
Provence. 

This  good  order  of  a  well-regulated  monarchy 
and  the  power  of  the  monarch  produced  an  unex- 
pected result,  namely,  political  liberty.  Just  be- 
cause the  king  had  everything  in  his  own  hands,  be- 
cause the  rights  and  duties  of  all  were  defined  with 
precision,  because  each  person  easily  came  in  contact 
with  all,  because  people  saw,  knew,  and  elbowed 
each  other,  the  resistance  to  a  power  that  was  too 
strong  was  easily  organized,  and  with  the  first  at- 
tempt attained  its  object.  The  Great  Charter  of 
John  Lackland  enacted  that  no  freeman  should  be 
convicted  in  any  way  whatsoever,  except  by  due 
judgment  of  his  peers ;  and  that  no  money  im- 
post should  be  levied  without  the  common  consent 
of  the  realm.  These  two  articles  gave  England  two 
great  guarantees  of  liberty,  the  jury  and  Parliament. 

English   society   did  not  break  up  into  castes 


CH.  ni.]  The  Kingdom  of  England.  75 

separated  from  one  another  by  habits  and  preju- 
dices. It  had  grades,  but  not  barriers.  And  at 
last  the  Saxons  and  Normans  were  amalgamated, 
and  spoke  a  single  national  language.  Thus  Eng- 
land of  the  fifteenth  century  was  more  than  a 
state  ;  it  was  almost  a  nation. 

The  sea,  over  which  she  was  afterward  to  rule, 
rendered  her  at  this  time  no  other  service  than  to 
isolate  her,  to  endow  her  with  originality,  and  to 
inspire  her  with  a  national  spirit,  narrow,  but 
lofty  and  proud.  She  had  neither  a  great  marine 
nor  a  great  commerce.  Her  cities  were  quite 
small.  She  subsisted — very  bountifully — on  til- 
lage and  pasturage.  She  did  not  weave  even  the 
wool  of  her  own  sheep,  but  sold  it  to  Flanders, 
which  was  her  manufactory.  She  was  likewise  in 
close  political  relations  with  that  country,  which 
she  already  defended  against  the  kings  of  France. 
Her  vocation  abroad  was  not  yet  revealed ;  but 
she  had  various  powers  in  reserve :  the  power  of 
a  sanguine,  vigorous,  and  vehement  temperament, 
and  the  power  which  is  produced  by  freedom  and 
by  the  spirit  of  independence.  These  she  was  at 
first  to  waste  in  her  civil  and  religious  wars  ;  but 
eventually  she  employed  them  to  found  an  em- 
pire, the  most  extensive  and  flourishing  that  his- 
tory has  known. 


7G  The  Middle  Ages.  [CH.III. 


§  22.   General  and  Concluding  Reflections  on  the 
Middle  Ages. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century  Europe 
was  divided  into  two  very  distinct  historical  re- 
gions. One  was  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  where  the 
old  Empire  still  endured ;  the  other  was  complex, 
consisting  of  the  Rhine  region,  where  Carolingian 
energy  had  developed,  and  Rome,  where  the  Pa- 
pacy had  preserved,  but  transformed,  the  tradi- 
tion of  a  world  power.  At  this  time  Gaul,  Ger- 
many, and  Italy  were  only  dependencies  of  the 
Rhenish  Francia,  governed  in  temporal  matters 
by  the  Emperor,  in  spiritual  matters  by  the  Pope. 
England  under  her  Saxon  and  Danish  kings, 
and  Spain,  which  was  in  great  part  Moslem,  had 
little  or  no  importance  in  the  Christian  world. 

Three  great  personages  created  the  history  of 
that  time :  the  Pope,  the  Emperor  of  the  West,  and 
the  Emperor  of  the  East.  The  world  had  also 
three  capitals :  Rome,  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  Con- 
stantinople. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  Empire  of  the  East 
disappears.  The  city  of  Constantine  and  the 
city  of  Pericles  become  Turkish.  The  Balkan 
Peninsula  becomes  an  annex  of  Asia. 

The  Emperor  of  the  West  is  now  only  a  petty 
prince,  occupied  with  the  affairs  of  his  house, 


CH.  m.]         General  and  Concluding  Reflections.  11 

powerless  even  in  Germany,  even  in  his  hereditaiy 
countries.  This  dominus  mundi  is  an  object  of 
derision.  The  Pope  has  emerged  from  the  crisis 
of  the  Great  Schism,  weakened  and  imperilled. 
The  Vicar  of  Christ  has  sunk  to  the  rank  of  an 
Italian  prince  ;  he  has  a  family  to  provide  for,  and, 
like  the  Emperor,  his  own  petty  private  affairs  to 
look  after.  Against  his  supremacy  Wickliffe  and 
Huss  have  spoken,  and  their  words  will  not  be  lost. 
The  ecclesiastical  and  imperial  past  is  crumbling 
in  ruins  on  the  countries  with  which  it  has  been 
identified.  The  Rhine  region  has  fallen  into  de- 

O 

cay ;  Aix-la-Chapelle  is  only  a  memory.  Germany 
and  Italy,  which  restored  the  Empire  in  the  tenth 
century,  and  on  which  the  Empire  subsisted,  are 
now  scarcely  more  than  geographical  expressions. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  West  and  the  East 
great  innovations  have  been  introduced.  In  the 
West,  three  organized  entities,  France,  England, 
and  Spain,  are  ready  for  modern  life  ;  in  the  East, 
outside  the  limits  of  the  ancient  Empire,  within 
regions  unknown  to  the  ancients  and  regarded  by 
them  as  abominable,  have  appeared  Denmark, 
Sweden,  Poland,  Bohemia,  Hungaiy,  the  Teutonic 
Knights,  and  the  Sword-bearers. 

In  the  last-mentioned  countries  an  immense 
stretch  of  uncultivated  territory  has  been  re- 
claimed. It  has  its  castles,  palaces,  cathedrals, 
and  town-halls.  It  has  its  saints,  kings,  seigneurs, 


78  The  Middle  Ages.  CCH.UI. 

bishops,  burgesses,  artisans,  and  merchants.  It 
has  its  men  of  learning.  Good  and  solemn  Latin 
is  spoken  in  Bohemia,  Poland,  and  Hungary. 
Prague  has  its  university,  modelled  after  that  of 
Paris. 

On  the  whole  Continent  and  on  the  English 
island,  an  activity  reigns,  confused  but  singularly 
potent.  There  are  more  artisans,  artists,  states- 
men, soldiers,  and  thinkers  than  ever  existed  in 
the  ancient  world.  The  intellect,  although  it  has 
not  found  the  true  method  of  working,  works  more 
than  ever  before.  It  is  a  joy  to  anyone  who  loves 
life,  to  see  it  in  such  a  state  of  effervescence. 

From  the  tumultuous  laboratory  of  the  Middle 
Ages  there  is  at  length  about  to  emerge  an  histori- 
cal entity,  greater  and  more  potent  than  Greece 
and  Home,  for  these  are  magnified  in  our  imagina- 
tions by  prejudices  of  education.  That  entity  is 
Europe. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MODEBN    TIMES. 

§  1.  General  Characteristics. 

THE  formation  of  states  distinct  from  one  an- 
other, each  having  its  own  character,  passions,  and 
interests,  was  destined  to  produce,  as  a  necessary 
consequence,  a  conflict  between  these  various  ele- 
ments. The  coexistence  of  individuals,  each  of 
whom  is  his  own  master,  and  considers  the  abso- 
lute possession  of  himself  the  sovereign  good,  this 
juxtaposition  without  a  hierarchy,  these  ambitions 
without  a  moderator,  these  pretensions  without  a 
common  judge,  were  all  causes  of  war. 

It  was  certain  that  France  would  seek  to  extend 
her  territory  toward  the  north  and  east,  now  that 
she  was  protected  on  the  two  other  sides  by  her 
natural  frontiers ;  it  was  certain  that  France  and 
Spain,  now  that  each  was  unified,  would  quarrel 
in  the  Pyrenees,  as  neighbors  often  do;  it  was  cer- 
tain that  the  conflict  between  the  Germans  and  the 
Turks,  and  between  the  Germans  and  the  Slavs, 
would  continue  in  the  East ;  and  certain  that  the 


80  Modern  Times.  ten.  iv. 

competition  between  the  maritime  nations  would 
not  continue  without  the  sound  of  cannon  on  all 
the  seas — the  North  Sea,  the  Baltic,  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  the  oceans.  But,  in  addition  to  these 
causes,  there  were  others  that  contributed  to  make 
war  almost  the  normal  condition  of  Europe  in 
modern  times. 

The  discovery  of  the  New  World  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  active  relations  with  Eastern  Asia 
might  have  diminished  the  evils  of  European  war, 
since  they  furnished  states  with  an  outlet  for 
their  energy.  But  the  governments  of  Europe 
began  by  considering  the  colonies  simply  as  coun- 
tries to  exploit.  To  reserve  to  themselves  the 
benefits  of  exploitation  they  created  monopolies, 
which  they  entrusted  to  armed  companies.  Since, 
on  the  other  hand,  political  centralization  had  re- 
sulted in  the  transformation  of  commerce  and  in- 
dustry— which  formerly  belonged  to  corporations 
— into  state  institutions,  there  were  thenceforth 
national  economic  interests  which  became  motives 
of  war.  The  Europeans  —  Portuguese,  Dutch, 
Spaniards,  English,  and  French — did  not  content 
themselves  with  fighting  in  the  two  Indies  to  ac- 
quire territories  and  rights,  nor  with  extending  to 
Europe  conflicts  begun  in  the  colonies  ;  they  even 
sought  war  on  the  Continent  in  order  that  they 
might  extend  it  to  the  colonies. 

The  Reformation  did  not  long  remain  an  eccle- 


OH.  iv.]  General  Characteristics.  81 

siastical  affair ;  for  as  the  State  and  the  Church 
were  closely  connected,  to  reform  the  Church  was 
a  State  affair.  Where  the  Keformation  succeeded 
it  increased  the  authority  of  the  sovereign,  by 
giving  him  a  fragment  of  the  sole  and  universal 
authority  of  the  Holy  See.  The  king  of  a  Protes- 
tant country  was  the  supreme  archbishop  of  that 
country,  a  localized  Pope.  Thus  the  first  political 
effect  of  the  Reformation  (an  effect  that  was  af- 
terward corrected)  was  to  strengthen  the  monarch- 
ies "by  giving  them  new  power,  and  to  distinguish 
the  European  principalities  more  clearly  from  one 
another.  Even  if  it  had  everywhere  succeeded,  it 
would  have  stimulated  the  rivalries  between  the 
states,  for  the  very  reason  that  it  placed  them  in 
the  hands  of  their  respective  rulers,  and  cut  the 
sole  bond  by  which  they  were  still  united.  But 
the  Reformation  gained  only  partial  victories  over 
Catholicism. 

It  began  by  creating  two  parties  in  every  coun- 
try. Where  these  were  approximately  equal  in 
power,  they  tried  their  strength  in  civil  war. 
Moreover,  there  was  formed  an  international 
Catholic  party,  and  an  international  Protestant 
party ;  in  France,  Catholic  Spaniards  fought  side 
by  side  with  French  Catholics  against  French, 
German,  and  English  Protestants. 

Thus  the  life  of  France,  that  of  England,  and  still 
more  that  of  Germany  were  profoundly  troubled  by 


82  Modern  Times.  [CH.IV. 

forays  of  religious  hatred  across  the  frontiers.  Of 
course,  politics  did  not  blindly  follow  the  guid- 
ance of  religion.  State  policy  silenced  religious 
scruples.  The  Most  Christian  King  of  France 
who,  as  it  was  said,  did  not  hesitate  to  bind  the 
lilies  to  the  crescent,  made  use  of  the  Protestants 
against  Austria ;  the  three  Catholic  powers — Spain, 
France,  and  Austria — almost  always  treated  each 
other  as  irreconcilable  enemies.  It  is  none  the  less 
true  that  the  Reformation,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  Catholic  reaction,  on  the  other,  were  occasions 
of  war,  and  that  they  embittered  those  wars  which 
they  did  not  cause. 

The  Renaissance  was  not  simply  an  intellect- 
ual, any  more  than  the  Reformation  was  simply 
a  religious,  phenomenon.  The  Renaissance  also 
strengthened  the  authority  of  the  sovereign  by  re- 
storing the  cult  of  the  ancient  state,  a  state  which 
was  self  -  sufficing,  and  of  which  the  lex  supremo, 
was  self-advantage.  The  Renaissance,  furthermore, 
diffused  over  Europe  the  political  manners  of  Italy, 
where  the  principal  states  were  wont  to  observe,  to 
secretly  watch,  and  to  check  one  another,  in  order 
to  maintain  the  equilibrium  of  their  powers.  As 
Italy  was  open  to  foreign  nations,  this  scrutiny 
was  also  directed  abroad.  Italy  was  the  birth- 
place of  the  ambassador,  that  pseudo- agent  of 
concord  and  peace.  Europe  would  certainly  have 
learned  political  knavery  without  a  master,  but 


OH.  iv.]  General  Characteristics.  83 

she  profited  by  the  lessons  which  she  received 
from  Italy.  She  fervently  meditated  the  gospel 
according  to  Machiavelli. 

Thus  the  discovery  of  the  New  World,  the  Ref- 
ormation, and  the  Renaissance  made  the  modern 
world  pay  its  footing. 

There  was  another  more  specific  and  direct 
cause  of  war.  Sovereignty  was  not  a  magistracy 
or  office,  it  was  a  piece  of  property.  It  was  ac- 
quired by  marriage  or  inheritance.  Hence  it  hap- 
pened that  princes  obtained  possession  of  provinces 
and  even  whole  states,  outside  of  their  native  land. 
The  house  of  Austria  built  up  a  remarkable  em- 
pire, in  which,  by  the  side  of  its  German  domains, 
it  incorporated  Burgundian,  Slavic,  and  Hungarian 
countries,  Spain,  and  a  great  part  of  Italy.  The 
kings  of  France  claimed  succession  to  the  duchy  of 
Milan  and  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  Later,  Louis 
XIV.  asserted  his  rights  to  the  succession  of  Spain, 
and  exacted  instalments  of  his  inheritance  before  it 
came  into  his  possession.  Thus  natural  groups,  dif- 
fering very  much  from  one  another,  were  embraced 
in  factitious  monarchies.  As  there  also  remained 
from  the  past  the  memory  of  a  universal  monarchy 
—a  phantom  haunting  the  spirit  of  kings  and  states- 
men— Charles  V.,  Philip  II.,  and  Louis  XIV.  were  ac- 
cused of  aspiring  to  form  a  "  monarchy  of  Europe." 

Royal  marriages  determined  the  future  of  the 
Continent.  If  ever  nuptials  were  bloody,  it  was 


84  Modern  Times.  [CH.IV. 

those  of  Maximilian  of  Austria  with  Mary  of  Bur- 
gundy, those  of  their  son  Philip  with  Joan  of 
Spain,  and  those  of  Louis  XIV.  with  Maria  The- 
resa of  Austria.  In  the  wake  of  their  bridal  trains 
follow  millions  of  shades  of  soldiers,  killed  on  hun- 
dreds of  battle-fields,  and  of  other  hapless  victims 
of  the  evils  of  war. 

War,  which  was  almost  perpetual,  completed 
the  work  of  political  concentration  in  the  different 
countries.  Kings  were  obliged  to  secure  con- 
siderable resources,  which  object  they  sought  to 
attain  by  means  of  a  better  regulated  administra- 
tion. Hence,  of  necessity,  their  principal  occupa- 
tions were  politics  and  war. 

Every  prince  maintained  a  throng  of  political 
agents,  some  at  home,  others  scattered  in  the 
courts  of  Europe.  The  sport  of  princes,  in  which 
"  glory  "  was  won,  was  to  carry  on  successful  in- 
trigue and  war.  In  diplomacy  mercenary  foreign 
agents  were  numerous,  and  foreign  mercenaries 
abounded  in  the  armies.  In  fact,  throughout  all 
Europe  there  existed  a  diplomatic  and  military 
"  condottierism."  The  highest  offices  were  some- 
times attained  by  civil  condottieri,  of  whom  Maz- 
arin  and  Alberoni  are  examples.  Military  con- 
dottieri became  heroes  in  the  eyes  of  monarchy, 
and  were  rewarded  for  their  services ;  of  these 
Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy  and  Marshal  Saxe  are  ex- 
amples. Thus  there  was  a  political  and  also  a  mill- 


CH.  iv.]  General  Characteristics.  85 

tary  profession ;  statesmen  and  soldiers  led  and  dis- 
turbed the  world.  The  object  of  politics  and  war 
was  not  merely  to  assure  the  existence  or  safety  of 
states ;  rulers  intrigued  because  they  had  diplo- 
mats, and  they  made  war  because  they  had  soldiers. 
In  these  quarrels  of  kings  the  nations,  as  such,  did 
not  actively  participate  ;  their  part  was  only  to  suf- 
fer the  evils  of  war,  to  pay  its  costs,  and  to  take 
pride  in  the  glory  of  their  master  when  he  won 
victories. 

Philosophers  and  savants  strove  to  establish 
principles  and  rules  of  justice  above  these  con- 
flicts, in  order  to  prevent  them  or  to  diminish  their 
violence.  They  framed  the  droit  des  gens,  that  is 
to  say,  international  law.  They  condemned  all 
war  which  had  not  as  motive  the  reparation  of  an 
offence  committed  against  law;  they  limited  the 
power  of  the  conqueror  over  the  conquered ;  and 
they  taught  that  treaties  between  states  were  in- 
violable, like  contracts  between  individuals.  But 
this  code  lacked  an  authority  to  suppress  crimes 
against  the  law  of  nations,  a  judge  and  an  agency 
to  execute  his  decisions.  All  these  fine  maxims, 
without  a  single  exception,  were  flagrantly  violated 
by  the  various  governments,  without  a  single  ex- 
ception. Wars  were  waged  without  lawful  reason ; 
the  conquered  were  treated  atrociously ;  agree- 
ments were  violated  without  scruple. 

Only  one  general  maxim  regulated  politics.     It 


86  Modern  Times.  [CH.IV. 

was  understood  among  diplomats  that  it  was  the 
interest  of  all  that  no  state  should  become  strong 
enough,  to  oppress  the  others.  This  was  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe.  The 
idea  was  excellent,  but  its  application  was  pecu- 
liar. If  a  state  increased,  and  thus  destroyed  the 
balance  of  power,  its  neighbors  did  not  demand 
that  the  newly  acquired  possessions  should  be  re- 
nounced :  they  sought  compensation.  Poland  was 
a  victim  of  this  principle  of  compensation.  She 
was  torn  to  pieces,  and  the  fragments  were  weighed 
in  a  balance.  Maria  Theresa  found  the  act  evil  in 
itself,  but  her  chief  complaint  was  that  Prussia 
and  Russia  had  taken  the  best  part. 

There  was,  then,  no  counterpoise  to  all  the 
causes  that  had  as  common  effect  this  state  of 
continual  war.  A  peace  of  several  years'  duration 
was  rare  in  these  three  centuries,  and  astonished 
the  world  as  an  anomaly.  The  kings  boasted  of 
it,  as  if  it  were  a  sacrifice  that  they  were  making 
for  the  "  repose  of  their  subjects." 

It  remains  to  show  the  results  of  all  these  con- 
flicts— who  gained  thereby,  and  who  lost. 

§  2.  Italy  and  Germany. 

That  the  modern  era  pressed  heavily  on  Ger- 
many and  Italy  was  the  result  of  the  logic  of 
events.  In  the  Middle  Ages  neither  Italian  poly- 
archy  nor  German  anarchy  was  unseasonable  ;  but 


en.  iv.]  Italy  and  Germany.  87 

they  became  anomalies  after  the  establishment  of 
centralized  states,  and  these  countries  found  by  ex- 
perience that  it  is  not  always  well  to  be  unlike 
one's  neighbors. 

They  gave  to  the  world  the  Renaissance  and 
the  Reformation,  thus  acquiring  the  glory  of  hav- 
ing exerted  upon  Europe  a  very  strong  intellect- 
ual, moral,  and  religious  influence,  and  of  having 
played  a  great  part  in  the  general  history  of  civili- 
zation. This  glory  they  owe,  in  part,  to  their 
genius,  in  part  to  the  very  causes  of  their  political 
sufferings.  The  Renaissance  had  more  energy 
and  variety  because  Italy  was  vigorous  and  hete- 
rogeneous. The  Reformation  spread  in  Germany, 
because  amid  the  disorders  of  this  country  it  did 
not  encounter  an  authority  strong  enough  to  check 
it,  as  in  France,  or  to  crush  it,  as  in  Spain ;  also 
because,  of  all  Christian  countries,  Germany  was 
the  one  in  which  the  Church  was  guilty  of  the  great- 
est abuses  with  the  least  concern  as  to  the  result. 

Thus  in  both  countries  great  evils  produced  cer- 
tain striking  compensations ;  but  these,  in  turn, 
aggravated  the  evils.  The  Renaissance  rendered 
the  defects  of  the  Italian  system  incurable ;  it 
was  almost  everywhere  the  servant  of  tyranny, 
whose  egotism  it  developed.  The  Reformation 
added  religious  discord  to  German  anarchy. 

The  decadence  of  Germany  and  Italy  was  very 
great.  The  expansion  of  Germany  ceased.  The 


88  Modern  Times.  tcn.iv. 

northeast  of  Europe  was  now  colonized,  and  hence 
had  no  more  allurements  for  persons  in  quest  of  for. 
tune  and  adventure.  It  was  a  period  of  adversity 
for  the  Teutonic  Order  and  the  Hanse,  which  in 
the  preceding  period  had  been  the  two  great  agen- 
cies of  emigration. 

The  knightly  orders  were  impaired  in  their  very 
principle  by  the  enfeeblement  of  the  Christian 
idea,  of  which  they  were  a  manifestation.  The 
Teutonic  Knights  who  outlived  the  Crusades  were 
isolated  in  an  age  which  no  longer  comprehended 
the  Crusades.  They  continued  to  wear  the  sign  of 
the  Cross  ;  but,  as  Luther  once  said,  "  What,  for- 
sooth, are  crusaders  who  do  not  undertake  cru- 
sades ? "  This  question  could  not  be  answered. 
But  it  is  dangerous  to  cease  to  be  useful.  The 
Teutonic  Knights,  having  become  useless,  disap- 
peared ;  a  Hohenzollern,  their  last  grand-master, 
secularized  the  order,  and  became  Duke  of  Prussia. 

The  Hanse,  which  was  an  international  corpora- 
tion, was  seriously  impaired  by  the  formation  of 
the  states  of  the  North,  each  of  which  had  its  own 
marine ;  and  the  discovery  of  the  New  World 
completed  this  work  of  destruction.  Henceforth 
the  Baltic  was  nothing  compared  with  the  great 
oceans;  the  streets  of  Lubeck  and  Bremen  became 
silent.  Moreover,  Poland  regained  strength  in 
the  sixteenth  century ;  in  the  seventeenth,  Swe- 
den became  a  military  state,  and  Russia  appeared 


on.  iv.]  Tl)e  Italian  Field  of  Battle.  89 

on  the  scene.  Germany  again  began  her  onward 
march  in  the  eighteenth  century ;  but  it  was  Prus- 
sia that  now  made  conquests  on  her  own  account, 
and  she  had  to  reckon  with  her  Russian  partner. 

The  expansion  of  Italy  was  also  arrested.  The 
Turks,  Christopher  Columbus,  and  Vasco  de  Gama 
killed  Venice.  The  Adriatic  declined  in  impor- 
tance even  more  than  the  Baltic. 

Italy  and  Germany,  being  thrown  upon  their 
own  resources,  were  not  capable  of  withstanding 
foreign  attacks.  Their  weakness  was  a  danger 
not  merely  to  themselves  but  also  to  Europe. 
Notwithstanding  all  these  wars,  there  was,  after 
all,  a  kind  of  continental  organism.  It  was  bad 
for  all  Europe  that  parts  of  this  organism  were 
unhealthy,  that  they  harbored  and  nourished  the 
germ  of  war.  The  old  region  of  the  priesthood 
and  of  the  Empire,  exposed  to  the  enterprises  of 
modern  statesmen,  was  too  easily  exploited.  Italy 
and  Germany  had  neither  a  head  nor  a  heart  to 
resent  the  injuries  which  they  thus  received  from 
all  quarters.  In  fact,  they  were  by  their  own  pro- 
fession battle-fields  of  Europe. 

§  3.  The  Italian  Field  of  Battle— The  Xing  of 
Sardinia. 

"  Italy  will  act  for  herself  "  (Italia  fara  da  sc\ 
exclaim  the  Italian  patriots  of  to-day.  The  po- 
tentates of  modern  Europe  used  to  say,  "  What 


90  Modern  Times.  [CH.IV. 

action  shall  we  take  in  Italy  ?  "  Spain,  France, 
and  Austria  played  chess  there  during  three  cen- 
turies. 

In  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  the  kings 
of  France  claimed  to  be  the  successors  of  the  Vis- 
conti  of  Milan  and  the  Angevins  of  Naples ;  but 
there  had  been  Aragonese  at  Naples,  and  the  Em- 
pire had  rights  over  Milan.  Thus  Spain  and 
Austria  played  against  France,  and  won  the  game. 
In  the  seventeenth  century  Hapsburgs  of  Spain 
and  Austria,  and  Bourbons  of  France  sought  ev- 
ery occasion  for  conflict  with  each  other;  they 
met  on  the  soil  and  seas  of  Italy.  Then  came  the 
preparations  for  the  Spanish  succession,  and  the 
succession  itself.  Who  was  to  secure  possession 
of  Milan  and  Naples  ?  The  fate  of  war — and  it 
was  a  dreadful  war — decided  in  favor  of  Austria 
in  1715.  During  the  remainder  of  the  eighteenth 
century  Italy  was  at  the  disposal  of  Europe.  She 
was  the  country  where  principalities  were  found 
for  throiieless  princes.  Here  Elizabeth  Farnese, 
wife  of  the  Bourbon  Philip  V.  of  Spain,  provided 
her  sons  with  a  kingdom  and  a  duchy.  After  the 
war  of  the  Polish  succession  Stanislas  Leczinski, 
father-in-law  of  Louis  XV.,  being  without  an  asy- 
lum, France  provided  him  with  the  duchy  of 
Lorraine ;  and  Francis,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  son-in- 
law  of  the  Emperor,  became  ruler  of  Tuscany. 
The  courtesy  shown  to  the  father-in-law  of  Louis 


CH.  iv.]  The  Italian  Field  of  Baffle.  91 

XV.  was  also  extended  to  the  son-in-law  of  Charles 
VI.  The  m.embra  mortua  of  this  ca/put  mortuum 
were  distributed  to  every  comer.  In  twenty-one 
years  Sicily  changed  masters  four  times ;  Parma, 
three  times  in  seventeen  years. 

Such  misery  and  indignity  seemed  to  be  the  final 
destiny  of  Italy.  Nevertheless,  an  innovation, 
which  in  the  issue  became  of  great  importance, 
appeared  in  the  northwest  of  the  Peninsula.  In 
the  perpetual  conflicts  between  the  Hapsburgs  and 
the  Bourbons,  the  state  of  the  dukes  of  Savoy, 
situated  on  two  opposite  sides  of  the  Alps,  played 
the  double  role  imposed  upon  it  by  its  geographi- 
cal situation.  There  was  no  prince  who  could  be 
less  trusted  than  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  "  the  door- 
keeper of  the  Alps."  Several  times  Savoy  was 
wrested  from  him  by  France,  and  he  had  to  cede 
to  Henry  IV.  Bresse,  Bugey,  Valromey,  and  the 
country  of  Gex.  On  the  other  hand,  Geneva 
maintained  her  independence  against  him,  and  the 
Swiss  Confederation  became  more  consolidated. 
Then  the  house  of  Savoy  sought  its  fortune  in 
Italy. 

To  Piedmont  it  added  the  duchy  of  Montferrat 
and  a  part  of  the  Milanese  territory.  In  every 
great  European  treaty  the  duke  gained  something 
by  exacting  payment  for  his  alliances,  in  the  trans- 
ference of  which  from  one  camp  to  another  he 
excelled.  While  he  was  occupied  in  eating  the 


92  Modern  Times.  ECH.  iv. 

first  scales  of  the  "  Italian  artichoke,"  he  displayed 
a  remarkable  appetite  for  such  a  mediocre  prince. 
This  was  manifested  by  the  fact  that  he  claimed 
his  share  of  the  Spanish  and  Austrian  successions. 
The  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  gave  him  Si- 
cily, which  he  soon  exchanged  for  Sardinia ;  but 
he  retained  the  title  of  king  which  he  had  borne 
during  his  short  possession  of  Sicily.  Thus  he  en- 
tered the  fraternity  of  sovereigns ;  he  was  King 
of  Sardinia  and  even  King  of  Jerusalem.  He 
wore  clothes  too  long  and  too  large  for  a  person 
of  his  size,  but  he  was  destined  to  grow  until  they 
fitted  him.  The  only  ruler  in  Italy  who  shared 
with  him  the  honor  of  having  a  royal  title  was 
the  King  of  Naples.  But  Italy  proper  was  in  the 
north.  Here  was  the  field  of  battle  between 
France  and  Austria  ;  here  laurels  were  to  be  o;ath- 

7  O 

ered,  provinces  to  be  won;  here  was  Monza,  the 
sanctuary  where  the  Iron  Crown  awaited  a  royal 
head. 

§  4.    The  German  Field  of  Battle — Prussia  and 
Austria. 

It  was  in  Germany  that  the  great  conflicts  be- 
tween the  Bourbons  and  the  Hapsburgs  occurred. 
French  politics  played  a  winning  game  in  the  dis- 
organized body  of  the  Empire.  France  subsidized 
the  Electors,  and  at  times  was  in  hopes  of  purchas- 


en.  iv.]  The  German  Field  of  Battle.  93 

ing  the  imperial  crown.  She  subsidized  the  Prot- 
estant princes,  the  natural  enemies  of  Catholic 
Austria.  She  subsidized  the  Catholic  princes, 
who  as  princes  were  enemies  of  the  imperial 
power.  She  knew  the  exact  value  of  a  prince  of 
a  given  rank,  of  a  minister,  counsellor,  or  mistress ; 
Versailles,  in  fact,  had  a  regular  tariff  of  German 
consciences. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  the  armies  of  Europe 
overran  the  region  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Vis- 
tula, the  Alps  and  the  seas  of  the  North.  Here, 
during  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  French  armies 
went  to  settle  the  old  quarrel  between  the  Bour- 
bons and  the  Hapsburgs,  and  to  ruin  the  latter's 
pretensions  to  the  sovereignty  of  Europe.  Here 
Spanish  armies  upheld  the  cause  of  Catholic 
orthodoxy.  Here  Danish  and  Swedish  armies  de- 
fended the  Protestant  cause,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  continued  the  combat  for  the  Baltic,  begun 
in  the  Middle  Ages.  In  fact,  all  these  pious  Cath- 
olics and  Protestants  were  greedy  and  grasping. 
Finally,  Germany,  which  was  divided  between  the 
two  parties,  complicated  the  horrors  of  foreign  war 
by  engaging  in  civil  war.  The  evils  that  this  coun- 
try suffered  cannot  be  described.  Here,  during 
thirty  years,  war  maintained  war.  Friends  and 
enemies  subsisted  on  the  soil  and  its  inhabitants, 
feasting  after  days  of  famine,  making  up  for  their 
abstinence  by  debauchery,  for  their  hunger  by  or- 


94  Modern  Times.  ten.  rv. 

gies,  returning  evil  for  evil.  All  this  they  did  by 
force  of  habit,  and  because  in  great  crises  man 
returns  very  quickly  to  his  original  instincts, 
those  of  a  vicious  animal.  Germany  was  cov- 
ered with  ruined  villages  and  towns.  In  more 
than  one  province,  where  everything  except  the 
trees  had  been  levelled  to  the  ground,  briers,  wild 
beasts,  and  cannibals  made  their  appearance. 

When  the  diplomats  of  Europe,  after  five  years 
of  ceremony,  framed  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  it 
was  found  that  Germany  was  officially  left  open 
to  the  foreigner.  The  King  of  Sweden,  as  a  Ger- 
man prince,  entered  the  Diet,  in  which  the  King 
of  Denmark  already  had  a  seat.  The  King  of 
France  became  a  member  of  the  Rhenish  League, 
which  had  been  organized  by  him.  The  sover- 
eignty of  the  princes  and  cities  of  the  Empire  was 
recognized,  and  the  imperial  authority  was  an- 
nihilated. The  high  contracting  powers  had  the 
right  to  maintain  this  anarchy,  'for  they  were  the 
guarantors  of  the  Peace  of  Westphalia.  Hence 
Germany  had  no  long  breathing  -  time  after  this 
terrible  war.  Bourbons  and  Hapsburgs  met  there 
in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  when- 
ever a  war  broke  out  in  Europe.  England  also 
went  there  to  conquer  America  and  India. 

Whence  was  the  remedy  to  come  ?  For  in 
Germany,  as  in  Italy,  the  misery  and  indignity 
were  too  much  to  bear.  Either  of  the  two  states 


cn.rv.]  The  Intermediate  Region.  95 

of  the  Eastern  frontier  was  capable  of  assuming 
the  hegemony  ;  accordingly  they  contended  for  its 
possession,  and  their  rivalry  aggravated  the  disor- 
ders of  Germany.  Moreover,  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  Prussia  and  Austria  were  European  rather 
than  German  powers. 

We  shall  soon  encounter  them  again.  In  the 
period  of  the  Middle  Ages,  starting  with  Ger- 
many, we  turned  our  attention  to  the  East ;  after- 
ward we  passed  to  the  West,  and  dwelt  upon  its 
history,  because  the  West  gave  birth  to  France, 
Spain,  and  England,  and  formed  the  principal  the- 
atre of  European  history.  In  the  modern  period, 
the  most  important  events  happened  in  the  East. 
Hence  it  is  now  necessary  to  follow  a  different  or- 
der and  begin  with  the  West. 

§  5.  The  Intermediate  Region. 

In  the  intermediate  region  France  gained  ground. 
In  the  South,  during  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  her 
territory  was  increased  by  the  addition  of  various 
small  districts,  wrested  from  the  Duke  of  Savoy. 
In  the  centre  and  North  she  exacted  the  price 
of  her  victories  over  both  branches  of  the  Haps- 
burgs. 

Here  she  had  to  contend,  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, with  Charles  V.,  who  acted  in  a  two-fold 
capacity.  As  Emperor,  he  defended  the  rights 


96  Modern  Times.  [CH.IV. 

of  the  Empire  in  Alsace  and  Lorraine ;  as  heir 
of  the  Burgundian  dukes,  he  was  owner  of  the 
Netherlands  and  Franche-Comte",  and  also  claimed 
Burgundy,  which  Louis  XL  had  seized.  Charles 
V.  did  not  succeed  in  securing  possession  of  Bur- 
gundy, notwithstanding  his  persistent  efforts,  for 
he  was  as  infatuated  a  Burgundian  as  his  rival, 
Francis  I.,  was  a  persistent  Visconti.  The  minds 
of  these  first  heroes  of  modern  politics  were  oc- 
cupied with  the  ideas  and  habits  of  the  preceding 
age. 

When  Charles  V.  abdicated,  the  Burgundian 
provinces,  the  Netherlands,  and  Franche-Comte 
passed  to  Philip  II.,  King  of  Spain,  while  Ferdi- 
nand, the  brother  of  Charles,  succeeded  to  the  im- 
perial throne,  and  thus  continued  the  series  of 
Hapsburg  emperors.  The  history  of  the  acquisi- 
tions of  France  in  the  intermediate  region  mingles, 
thenceforward,  with  the  history  of  her  long  war- 
fare against  the  Spanish  and  German  branches  of 
the  Hapsburgs. 

From  Spain  Louis  XIV.  took  Franche-Comte; 
but  he  succeeded  in  detaching  from  the  Nether- 
lands only  Artois  and  certain  cities  of  Flanders. 
From  the  Empire  France  won  at  first  the  three 
bishoprics,  Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun  ;  then  Alsace 
without  Strasburg ;  and  then  Strasburg.  It  was 
not  by  pure  violence  that  France  made  these  ac- 
quisitions. Metz,  Toul.  and  Verdun  were  annexed 


en.  iv.]    Provinces  Remaining  under  Hapsburg  Rule.        97 

with  the  consent  of  German  princes,  whom  Henry 
II.  had  assisted  in  their  revolts  against  Charles  V. ; 
and  Alsace  was  acquired  by  Richelieu  with  the 
army  which  had,  so  to  speak,  made  itself  propri- 
etor of  this  country.  It  would  be  disingenuous  to 
vindicate  all  the  political  measures  of  France  ;  but 
one  can  justly  assert  that  the  French  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  in  taking  Alsace,  did  not  tear  men 
from  a  fatherland.  At  that  time  there  was  no 
French  fatherland  in  the  present  sense  of  the 
word ;  still  less  was  there  a  German  fatherland. 
The  politics  and  armies  of  France  did  not  cut  into 
the  living  flesh. 

The  acquisition  of  the  three  bishoprics  and  Al- 
sace rendered  inevitable  that  of  Lorraine.  This 
French  country  was  often  occupied,  during  the 
wars  between  the  Bourbons  and  the  Hapsburgs, 
by  the  armies  of  France  before  becoming  a  French 
province. 

§  6.  Provinces  Remaining  under  Hapsburg  Rule. 

Franche-Comte,  Alsace,  Lorraine,  Artois,  and 
French  Flanders  were  the  districts  acquired  by 
France  in  the  intermediate  region  during  the 
modern  period ;  the  remainder  of  this  region  es- 
caped her  grasp.  But  Spain  did  not  retain  the 
Netherlands ;  and  the  latter  did  not  remain  united. 
In  spite  of  geographical  contiguity,  there  were 


98  Modern  Times.  [CH.IV. 

great  differences  between  the  seventeen  provinces. 
Some  were  maritime,  others  continental;  some 
were  rich,  others  poor ;  some  were  municipal,  oth- 
ers feudal ;  and  some  were  German,  others  Wal- 
loon. In  each  of  them,  and  in  each  of  the  frag- 
ments of  which  they  were  composed,  in  the  various 
fiefs,  communes,  and  corporations,  life  was  too  in- 
tense for  all  these  individual  beings  to  long  endure 
the  system  of  the  Spanish  monarchy. 

They  endured  it  during  the  lifetime  of  Charles 
V.  The  vaster  and  more  heterogeneous  the  mon- 
archy became,  the  less  was  the  oppression  of  an 
absolute  ruler  to  be  feared.  Moreover,  Charles 
V.  had  the  rare  merit  of  reflecting  in  his  person 
the  diversity  of  his  Empire.  He  spoke  all  the 
languages  of  his  subjects,  and  knew  how  to  com- 
port himself,  according  to  the  occasion,  as  emperor, 
king,  count,  nobleman,  or  burgher.  But  when  he 
detached  the  Netherlands  from  the  Empire  to  give 
them  to  Spain,  the  dire  consequences  of  matrimo- 
nial politics  appeared. 

The  marriage  of  Maximilian  of  Austria  with 
the  daughter  of  the  Burgundian,  Charles  the  Bold, 
was  comprehensible ;  the  states  of  Burgundy 
bordered  on  the  Empire,  and  were,  in  large  part, 
even  countries  of  the  Empire.  Charles  V.,  pos- 
sessor of  the  Netherlands  by  right  of  inheritance, 
was  also  sovereign  by  virtue  of  his  title  of  Emperor. 
But  when,  through  the  sole  right  of  ownership, 


CH.  iv.]  Separation  of  the  Netherlands.  99 

the  Netherlands  were  given  to  a  Spanish  and  Ital- 
ian king,  violence  was  done  to  the  natural  order 
of  things,  and  produced  a  revolt. 

§  7.  Separation  of  tlie  Netherlands. 

The  political  resistance  offered  by  the  Nether- 
lands to  the  despotism  of  Philip  II.,  who  violated 
their  ancient  privileges,  was  strengthened  by  re- 
ligious passions.  The  Northern  provinces  had 
adopted  Protestantism  with  fervor  and  with  a 
sort  of  sombre  enthusiasm;  whereas  their  sov- 
ereign was  the  enthusiastic  and  sombre  champion 
of  Catholicism.  During  the  conflict  with  Spain 
these  provinces  united.  They  tried  at  first  to  con- 
form to  European  traditions  by  placing  a  prince 
at  their  head ;  afterward  they  were  content  to  be 
merely,  "  Their  High  Mightinesses  the  States  Gen- 
eral of  the  United  Provinces."  As  to  the  provinces 
of  the  South,  after  many  revolts  they  remained 
subjected  to  the  King  of  Spain.  At  the  close  of 
the  sixteenth  century  the  separation  of  the  North 
and  the  South  was  accomplished. 

Thenceforth  the  future  Holland  and  Belgium 
followed  their  separate  destinies.  The  latter,  cur- 
tailed on  the  south  by  France,  was  severed  from 
the  Spanish  monarchy  and  given  to  Austria  by 
the  treaties  that  regulated  the  Spanish  succession. 
Thus  it  passed  from  the  elder  branch  of  the  Haps- 


100  Modern  Times.  [CH.rv. 

burgs  to  the  younger,  which  still  possessed  it  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution. 

§  8.   The  United  Provinces. 

The  United  Provinces  became  a  European  pow- 
er. They  had  colonies,  an  admirable  marine,  a 
great  commerce,  prosperous  industries,  and  hence 
money,  which,  especially  in  the  seventeenth  centu- 
ry, formed  the  sinews  of  politics  and  war.  Their 
politics  were  conducted  by  men  who  employed 
all  the  finesse  of  diplomacy  in  the  difficult  gov- 
ernment of  a  federation  of  provinces,  each  of 
which  had  its  own  privileges,  and  was  itself  only 
an  aggregate  of  privileged  entities.  This  dan- 
ger, to  which  a  little,  rich,  republican  state  was 
exposed  in  the  midst  of  arrogant  and  famished 
monarchies,  kept  its  political  spirit  constantly 
awake.  For  purposes  of  war  they  had  an  aristo- 
cratic military  force,  the  heads  of  which  belonged 
to  the  house  of  Orange.  In  time  of  danger,  when 
it  was  necessary  to  arouse  and  unite  the  national 
forces,  the  princes  of  Orange,  who  were  related 
to  the  royal  families  of  Europe,  were  able  tem- 
porarily to  transform  the  republic  into  a  monarchy 
under  the  form  of  the  stadtholdership. 

For  all  these  reasons,  and  because  the  republic 
was  young,  because  it  had  the  vitality  of  the  many 
political  bodies  which  it  allowed  to  subsist  within 


CH.IV.]  The  Swiss  Cantons.  101 

itself,  because  its  energy  was  sustained  by  passions 
which  were  at  once  provincial,  feudal,  municipal, 
and  corporative,  as  well  as  political  and  religious, 
the  United  Provinces  wrested  from  the  Kino- 

O 

of  Spain  the  recognition  of  their  independence. 
They  defended  it  against  Louis  XIV.,  formed 
a  strong  coalition  against  France,  aided  their 
stadtholder,  William  of  Orange,  to  ascend  the 
throne  of  England,  and  finally  humiliated  the 
great  King  of  France.  This  was  the  heroic  pe- 
riod of  their  history.  Such  efforts,  however, 
could  not  long  be  sustained. 

If,  by  an  extraordinary  combination  of  circum- 
stances, a  state  occupies  a  position  in  the  world 
disproportional  to  its  real  powers,  it  will  be 
brought  back  to  the  limits  which  it  has  over- 
stepped. Holland,  which  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury was  a  powerful  ship  of  war,  was  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century  only  a  "  sloop  which  England  had 
in  tow." 

§  9.  The  Swiss  Cantons. 

During  this  same  period  another  republican 
state,  the  league  of  the  Swiss  cantons,  developed 
in  the  intermediate  region.  But  this  remarkable 
body  could  not,  like  the  United  Provinces,  adopt 
a  European  policy.  It  had  neither  seaboard, 
nor  a  great  commerce,  nor  great  industries,  nor 


102  Modern  Times.  CCH.  iv. 

much  money.  While  Switzerland,  which  was 
formed  of  fragments  of  nations,  awaited  the  time 
when  she  was  to  become  neutral  among  the  na- 
tions, she  sold  her  soldiers  to  any  one  who  paid 
for  them.  The  King  of  France  finally  obtained 
the  preference  in  this  trade.  The  Swiss  were  to 
be  the  last  defenders  of  the  flag  of  the  fleur-de-lis 
in  August,  1792,  and  in  July,  1830. 

The  United  Provinces  and  the  Swiss  Confedera- 
tion both  secured  the  recognition  of  their  indepen- 
dence in  1648,  the  former  by  a  separate  treaty 
with  Spain,  the  latter  by  the  terms  of  the  Treaty 
of  Westphalia.  Thus  both  derived  great  profit 
from  the  victories  of  France  over  the  Hapsburgs. 
Moreover,  France  had  aided  the  United  Provinces 
in  their  revolt  against  Spain.  This  was  not,  in- 
deed, due  to  disinterested  motives  on  the  part  of 
France.  When  her  kings  made  themselves  the 
protectors  of  the  small  and  the  weak,  they  were  not 
actuated  by  chivalric  sentiment.  Nevertheless,  it 
is  an  honor  to  France  that  her  victories  indirectly 
resulted  in  giving  to  the  political  world  two  new 
and  free  states. 

§  10.  France. 

In  modern  times  France  followed  the  impulse 
which  had  already  been  given  to  her  destiny  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  The  French  kings  completed 


en.  iv.]  France.  103 

the  formation  of  the  national  territory  by  acquir- 
ing Brittany  through  marriage,  Rousillon  by  con- 
quest, Beam  and  Navarre  on  the  accession  of 
Henry  IV.  We  have  followed  their  progress  in 
the  intermediate  region.  The  acquisition  of  Cor- 
sica, made  at  the  same  time  as  that  of  Lorraine, 
completed  France  as  she  was  constituted  before 
1789. 

Within  this  monarchy  the  provincial  differences 
were  gradually  effaced,  though  they  never  wholly 
disappeared.  The  old  privileges  of  the  various  coun- 
tries, where  they  had  not  been  abolished,  became  a 
dead  letter ;  likewise  those  of  the  manors  and  com- 
munes. But  these  empty  structures — provinces, 
municipalities,  and  feudal  lordships  —  cumbered 
France,  and  incommoded  her  life.  The  power  that 
turned  them  into  ruins  would  not,  or  could  not, 
remove  the  debris,  which  caused  much  disorder  in 
the  constitution  of  France.  The  resistance  of  such 
vestiges  of  the  past  was  encountered  by  the  great 
ministers  of  France,  by  those  of  the  time  of  her  full 
glory,  and  by  those  of  the  close  of  the  ancient  re- 
gime, for  example,  Colbert  and  Turgot.  The  old 
monarchy  shone  in  Europe  with  great  brilliancy. 
It  contributed  to  the  sum  total  of  the  greatness  of 
France  the  majesty  of  Louis  XIV.,  which  was 
a  real  majesty.  But  the  monarchy  did  not  estab- 
lish a  system  of  government  and  administration 
adapted  to  a  unified  country.  It  did  not  provide 


104  Modern  Times.  [en.  iv. 

itself  with  a  good  financial  and  military  system  ; 
it  did  not  give  the  country  a  good  judicial  and 
economic  system.  To  speak  the  truth  in  all  its 
nakedness,  French  kings  knew  how  to  exact  obedi- 
ence, but  they  did  not  know  how  to  govern. 

In  their  foreign  policy  they  met  with  consid- 
erable success,  and  they  also  made  great  mis- 
takes. The  conflict  with  the  house  of  Austria  was 
at  first  imposed  upon  them.  In  attempting  to 
break  the  circle  enclosing  France,  Francis  I.,  Henry 
II.,  Henry  IV.,  Richelieu,  and  Mazarin  maintained 
a  proper  and  legitimate  line  of  policy  and  warfare ; 
and  it  was  their  good  fortune  to  save  the  indepen- 
dence of  Europe,  while  thus  working  for  the  great- 
ness of  France.  But  the  monarchy,  victorious  in 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  soon  abused 
its  victory.  The  claim  to  the  Spanish  succession, 
which  at  the  present  day  is  regarded  as  a  chimera, 
was  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  former  poli- 
tics ;  but  it  required  a  prudence  and  an  attitude  of 
conciliation  that  were  wanting.  Foreign  nations, 
one  after  another,  or  all  simultaneously,  became 
imbued  with  hatred  against  France.  Europe,  thus 
united  against  the  French  by  the  French  them- 
selves, watched  every  measure  and  every  intention 
of  the  King  of  France.  The  progress,  slow  but 
constant,  which  he  had  made  during  a  century 
along  the  frontiers  of  the  North  and  East,  was  ar- 
rested. France  ceased  to  be  the  directing  power 


CH.  iv.]  France.  105 

which  grouped  around  her  the  most  diverse  forces, 
guided  events,  and,  when  necessary,  brought  them 
into  existence.  The  seventeenth  century  belonged 
to  the  Bourbons  in  combat  with  the  Hapsburgs ; 
the  eighteenth  century  belonged  to  new  powers. 

It  is  always  to  be  regretted  that  the  foreign 
policy  of  France  was  absorbed  in  the  affairs  of 
the  Continent,  to  the  neglect  of  the  rest  of  the 
world,  whose  history  had  become  implicated  in 
that  of  Europe.  France,  an  oceanic  and  a  Medi- 
terranean power,  was  destined  to  play  a  very  im- 
portant role  in  Africa,  Asia,  and  America.  She 
had  undertaken  crusades ;  she  early  had  bold 
explorers;  she  possessed  Marseilles,  Bordeaux, 
Nantes,  and  Havre ;  and  she  had  excellent  seafar- 
ing populations — the  Normans,  Bretons,  Basques, 
arid  Provencals.  She  is  calumniated  when  ac- 
cused of  being  incapable  of  colonization.  Her 
colonial  history  is  a  glorious  one.  She  made  an 
excellent  beginning  in  the  formation  of  a  French 
empire  beyond  seas.  Francis  L,  Henry  IV.,  Rich- 
elieu, and  Colbert  saw  what  France  could  and 
should  do;  but  continental  politics  absorbed  all 
her  strength  and  thought. 

To  humble  the  house  of  Austria  was  at  first  a 
necessity ;  and  this  afterward  became  a  watch- 
word mechanically  handed  down  from  king  to 
king.  The  great  successes  of  the  French  diplo- 
mats and  generals  in  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 

o 


106  Modern  Times.  [cn.iv. 

teenth  centuries  aroused  the  emulation  of  their  suc- 
cessors, even  when  Austria  was  no  longer  an 
enemy.  The  habit  had  been  formed  of  waging 
war  in  the  Netherlands,  in  Germany,  and  in  Italy. 
It  seemed  as  though  glory  could  not  be  acquired 
on  other  fields  of  battle.  The  desire  was  to  win  it 
on  this  classic  theatre  of  war,  whence  the  tidings 
of  victory  would  be  brought  to  Versailles  by  a 
courier  galloping  at  full  speed.  To  this  must  be 
added  the  circumstance  that  in  France  the  third 
estate  counted  for  almost  nothing  in  the  body  pol- 
itic ;  the  merchants  could  not  make  their  voices 
heard,  as  in  England. 

The  French  nobility  had  ceased  to  be  a  feudal 
body,  and  had  become  a  brilliant  military  society ; 
but  it  had  never  become  accustomed  to  marine  ser- 
vice. Its  chiefs  served  only  in  the  army.  "  The 
admiral,"  when  there  was  one,  was  usually  a  cour- 
tier, who  was  not  even  a  fresh-water  sailor.  In- 
deed, Versailles,  where  monarchy  slept,  was  not 
even  washed  by  a  river.  The  labors  of  Hercules 
were  necessary  to  furnish  it  with  drinking-water. 

§  11.  Spain. 

The  formation  of  the  Spanish  state  was  com- 
pleted at  the  beginning  of  modern  times,  a  single 
absolute  monarchy  being  substituted  for  the  old 
feudal  monarchies.  Thereupon  Spain,  emerging 


CH.  iv.]  Spain.  107 

from  the  lists  in  which  she  had  so  long  fought  the 
infidel,  suddenly  conquered  the  richest  parts  of  the 
New  World.  She  was  at  the  same  time  entangled 
in  all  the  affairs  of  the  Continent  by  the  family 
alliance  concluded  between  Castile  and  Austria. 

To  people  and  organize  her  colonies,  to  conduct 
a  line  of  policy  which  involved  her  in  conflicts  with 
other  European  states,  to  protect  her  possessions 
in  Italy,  Franche  -  Comte,  and  Flanders,  all  the 
pOAvers  of  Spain,  even  if  nourished  and  increased, 
would  not  have  sufficed.  Her  government  ruined 
her  by  the  exercise  of  a  sombre,  solemn,  and  stupid 
despotism,  and  by  the  infatuation  of  a  religious 
fanaticism  that  offered  up  to  God  an  auto-da-fe  not 
merely  of  thousands  of  individuals,  but  also  of  the 
commerce,  industry,  and  activity  of  Spain. 

During  the  Middle  Ages  the  Orientals  had  pro- 
duced in  this  country  marvels  of  labor ;  but  mod- 
.ern  Spain  was  invaded  by  an  Oriental  somnolence, 
which  ended  in  lethargy.  This  kingdom,  the  val- 
iant adversary  of  France  in  the  sixteenth  and  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  forced 
to  pay  the  expenses  of  all  the  French  wars,  arid 
France  supported  all  the  revolts  against  Spain. 
In  1700,  when  the  Spanish  branch  of  the  Haps- 
burgs  was  withered,  Louis  XIV.  gave  to  Spain  an 
off-shoot  of  his  dynasty.  To  fix  it  in  the  soil, 
twelve  years  of  war  were  necessary,  at  the  end  of 
which  period  the  ruin  of  Spain  was  completed. 


108  Modern  Times.  ten.  iv. 

When  Europe  settled  the  Spanish  succession, 
she  rendered  Spain  a  service  by  relieving  her  of 
her  Belgian  and  Italian  dependencies.  A  policy  of 
repose  and  repair  would  have  restored  Spain, 
rich  in  the  gifts  of  nature ;  but  the  new  king  from 
Versailles  was  a  sort  of  lazy  monk,  tormented  by 
dreams  of  love  and  ambition.  Moreover,  the  habit 
of  mingling  in  European  politics  was  established 
at  the  Escurial.  Herein  also  tradition  asserted 
its  sway  over  the  mind,  and  led  it  astray.  Spain 
had  not  time  to  restore  her  strength.  At  first  ad- 

O 

venturers  and  then  ministers  of  state  attempted 
to  rejuvenate  her.  They  desired  to  diminish  the 
number  of  court  parasites,  who  devoured  what 
little  substance  remained ;  to  drive  the  plunder- 
ers from  the  administration ;  to  reform  taxation ; 
to  pay  the  judges ;  to  clothe,  arm,  and  feed  the 
soldiers ;  to  build  arsenals ;  to  place  ships  in 
the  ports,  cannon  on  the  ramparts,  workmen  in 
the  factories,  and  husbandmen  in  the  fields.  The 
boldest  of  them  also  undertook  to  recover  the 
Spanish  intellect  from  the  sway  of  the  Church. 
They  met  with  successes,  but  of  a  moderate  and 
transient  nature ;  they  galvanized  the  body  politic, 
which  then  relapsed  into  lifelessness. 

England  made  a  breach  in  the  colonial  empire 
of  Spain,  a  remarkable  empire,  which  the  mother- 
country  did  not  colonize,  which  she  desired  only 
to  exploit,  and  which  she  did  not  know  how  to  ex- 


CH.  iv.]  England.  109 

ploit.  Into  these  colonies  she  introduced  all  the 
vices  of  her  political,  social,  and  religious  life,  her 
despotism  which  carefully  hindered  all  expansion 
of  commerce  and  industry,  her  idle  and  arrogant 
nobles,  her  ignorant  officials,  her  monks,  and  her 
lethargy. 

§  1 2.  England. 

The  history  of  England  was  exactly  the  reverse 
of  that  of  Spain.  The  constitution  established  in 
England  was  that  of  a  free  country.  She  went 
through  crises  of  extreme  violence,  such  as  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses,  the  religious  revolutions  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  the  religious  and  political 
revolutions  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Sects  and 
parties  abounded  in  the  land.  On  the  Continent 
a  little  country  thus  troubled  would  have  paid  for 
such  violent  disorders  with  the  loss  of  life  and 
independence.  But  the  sea  performed  its  func- 
tions, and  protected  the  island  which  was  to  rule 
over  it. 

Three  passions  animated  England :  loyalty,  ha- 
tred of  popery,  and  attachment  to  certain  princi- 
ples of  political  liberty.  The  first  two  were  the 
most  active ;  they  determined  England's  history 
and  explain  its  contradictions.  Loyalty,  on  sev- 
eral occasions,  made  Englishmen  support  a  despot- 
ism such  as  was  unknown  in  monarchical  France. 


110  Modern  Times.  ccn.  iv. 

Thus  it  protected  Charles  I.  for  a  long  time ;  re- 
called Charles  II.  from  exile ;  permitted  this  king 
and  his  brother  to  commit  the  greatest  offences ; 
sulked  with  George  III.,  and  disturbed  the  secur- 
ity of  the  house  of  Hanover.  Hatred  of  popery 
raised  up  Cromwell,  killed  Charles  L,  and  exiled 
James  II. 

From  the  conflict  between  these  two  chief  pas- 
sions England's  liberty  finally  emerged.  The  na- 
tion, even  when  it  allowed  the  kings  to  do  as 
they  pleased,  retained  a  faithful  recollection  of  the 
charter  of  John  Lackland.  It  was  always  peril- 
ous for  the  king,  except  in  great  emergencies,  to 
deprive  an  Englishman  of  trial  by  jury;  and 
it  was  still  more  perilous  for  him  to  raise  a  tax 
without  the  consent  of  Parliament.  Thus,  when 
the  quarrel  between  the  loyalists  and  the  anti- 
papists  had  been  settled,  and  foreigners,  first  a 
Dutchman  and  then  the  Hanoverians,  succeeded 
to  the  throne  of  England,  the  dominant  passion 
became  that  of  liberty. 

Then  England  began  to  govern  herself.  Parlia- 
ment furnished  the  king  with  a  ministry,  which 
could  do  almost  everything  without  the  king, 
but  which  could  do  nothing  without  Parliament. 
Against  its  own  government  the  country  defended 
itself  by  means  of  its  rights  and  liberties.  It  had 
private  rights,  whereby  the  person  of  an  Eng- 
lishman, his  domicile,  and  his  purse  were  rendered 


CH.  iv.]  England.  Ill 

inviolable  against  all  illegal  acts ;  and  public 
rights,  namely,  the  right  of  complaint  and  petition, 
the  right  of  meeting,  the  right  of  association,  the 
right  to  speak  and  to  write.  But  this  magnificence 
concealed  certain  weaknesses  and  deformities  :  an 
irrational  electoral  system,  scandalous  corruption 
of  the  voter  by  the  candidate  and  of  the  member 
elect  by  the  ministry ;  and  the  persistence  of  re- 
ligious intolerance  and  of  strange  vestiges  of  the 
past.  No  matter  !  England  was  free ;  indeed,  in 
the  eighteenth  century  she  was  the  only  free  na- 
tion in  the  world. 

After  the  death  of  Elizabeth,  Scotland  and  Eng- 
land had  the  same  king.  Ireland  had  been  re- 
duced to  the  condition  of  an  ever-suppurating 
wound ;  of  all  English  deformities  this  was  the 
ugliest.  But  the  personal  union  with  Scotland, 
which  prepared  the  way  for  the  fusion  of  the  two 
countries,  delivered  England  from  the  neighbor- 
hood of  a  possible  enemy,  and  assured  her  free- 
dom of  action  abroad. 

Her  national  policy — interrupted  and  disturbed 
in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  by  in- 
ternal revolutions — was  directed  by  various  mo- 
tives :  by  the  proud  remembrance,  preserved  on 
the  royal  escutcheon,  of  the  time  when  an  English 
king  ruled  over  France ;  by  the  ambition  to  pa- 
rade on  the  Continent  (  "  The  one  whom  I  protect 
is  master,"  said  Henry  VIII.)  ;  by  the  feeling 


112  Modern  Times.  [CH.  iv. 

against  the  Catholicism  personified  in  Philip  II.  ; 
and  by  commercial  interests.  The  Stuarts  sold  the 
foreign  policy  of  the  crown  to  Louis  XIV.,  in 
order  to  employ  its  market  price  against  the  pub- 
lic liberties  and  religious  convictions  of  their  sub- 
jects. But  as  soon  as  England  was  her  own  mis- 
tress, she  cast  aside  all  prejudices,  fantasies,  and 
weaknesses.  She  followed  without  scruple  a 
practical  line  of  policy.  She  mingled  in  the  af- 
fairs of  the  Continent,  where  she  played  an  im- 
portant role,  without  self-sacrifice,  since  she  in- 
curred no  danger,  and  did  not  employ  her  vital 
forces.  She  worked  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
balance  of  power,  her  efforts  always  being  directed 
against  France,  to  prevent  the  latter  from  extend- 
ing her  sway  over  the  Netherlands,  and  from  dom- 
inating over  Spain.  And  she  always  created  or 
seized  opportunities  to  increase  her  colonial  em- 
pire. 

In  fact,  her  vocation  had  been  revealed  to  her ; 
the  sea  had  at  length  seduced  England.  She  was 
the  last  of  the  colonizing  powers  to  set  to  work ; 
but  it  was  fortunate  for  her  that  others  had  taken 
possession  of  the  countries  of  gold  and  spices.  Her 
first  colonists  established  themselves  on  the  coasts 
of  North  America — on  stubborn  soil.  She  had  no 
occasion  to  deprive  them  of  the  products  of  their 
labor ;  and  she  allowed  them  to  work  in  their  own 
way.  Among  these  colonists  were  many  who 


en.  iv.]  Prussia.  113 

went  beyond  sea  to  seek,  not  profit  nor  adventure, 
but  freedom  to  worship  God  according  to  their 
conscience.  Gradually  the  elements  of  a  people 
were  gathered  there.  It  is  true  that  this  people 
finally  claimed  the  right  of  independence ;  but  it 
is  no  small  honor  to  have  entirely  created  a  na- 
tion like  the  United  States.  England  found,  more- 
over, some  consolation  in  her  greatly  increased 
commerce  with  these  Anglo-Saxon  lands  after  they 
secured  their  independence. 

Besides,  she  retained  Canada,  which  she  had 
conquered  from  France.  She  took  possession  of 
islands,  and  secured  well-situated  stations,  in  all 
the  seas.  She  wrested  from  France  the  empire  of 
India.  In  short,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  French 
Revolution,  with  her  navy,  her  merchant  marine, 
her  immense  commerce,  and  her  awakening  manu- 
facturing activity,  she  was  the  great  maritime  na- 
tion of  Europe.  Protected  from  the  convulsions 
of  the  Continent  by  her  isolation,  her  solid  consti- 
tution, and  her  customs,  she  was  destined  to  be  the 
most  formidable  enemy  of  France. 

§  13.   The  East — Prussia. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  North  and  East,  where 
events  of  the  greatest  importance  had  happened. 
Among  the  old  powers  some  had  decayed;  others, 
like  Austria  and  Prussia,  had  prospered.  Russia, 


114  Modern  Times.  LCH.  iv. 

a  new  power  of  considerable  importance,  had  ap- 
peared on  the  scene. 

The  Hohenzollerns  had  completed  the  formation 
of  Prussia.  As  Electors  of  Brandenburg  they  had, 
early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  inherited  Rhenish 
duchies  and  the  Prussia  of  the  Teutonic  Knights, 
now  transformed  into  a  duchy.  Thenceforth  a 
single  prince  ruled  on  the  Vistula,  the  Elbe,  and 
the  Rhine.  Nothing  was  less  necessary  or  less 
natural ;  for  these  three  countries  scarcely  knew 
one  another,  had  no  common  traditions,  and  did 
not  resemble  one  another.  But  all  three  were 
harassed  by  war  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
Rhenish  duchies  formed  a  field  of  battle  for 
France  and  Holland  against  Austria  and  Spain ; 
Brandenburg  served  the  same  purpose  for  Sweden 
against  Austria ;  and  in  Prussia  there  were  con- 
flicts between  Poles,  Swedes,  Austrians,  and  Rus- 
sians. The  necessity  of  being  ready  for  all 
conflicts,  since  the  Hohenzollerns  were  sure  to 
be  implicated  in  them,  imposed  upon  these  princes 
constant  effort,  a  constant  combat  for  existence. 

To  fuse  into  one  state  provinces  whose  history 
and  customs  were  so  different,  to  employ  their 
powers  for  common  ends,  to  unite  the  links  of 
the  broken  chain,  was  the  plan  which  was  en- 
joined by  circumstances,  and  which  was  executed. 
Magdeburg,  Halberstadt,  and  Minden,  which  were 
acquired  in  1648,  were  successive  steps  on  the 


CH.  iv.]  Prussia.  115 

route  from  Berlin  to  the  Rhine.  Pomerania,  ac- 
quired in  two  instalments,  gave  Brandenburg 
a  seaboard.  After  the  conquest  of  Silesia  the 
realm  was  flanked  by  mountains.  After  the  spo- 
liation of  Poland,  Brandenburg  and  Prussia,  the 
two  essential  parts  of  the  state,  were  amalgamated. 

After  these  annexations  the  state  of  the  Hohen- 
zollerns  remained  a  singular  edifice,  consisting  of 
a  body  and  two  wings,  one  of  which  stretched  out, 
broken  in  fragments,  to  the  Rhine,  and  the  other 
to  the  Nieinen  ;  but  the  government  held  together 
this  scattered  power.  Rulers  whose  territories 
were  fields  of  battle  were  necessarily  military  au- 
tocrats, who  exacted  passive  obedience  from  their 
subjects.  Nicht  raisonniren,  "  No  reasoning  here," 
was  their  motto.  It  was  also  very  necessary 
for  them  to  be  frugal  and  to  turn  to  account  all 
their  productive  powers.  And  in  this  Germany, 
in  which  the  smallest  potentates  took  pride  in 
disfiguring  the  splendors  and  in  parodying  the 
vices  of  Versailles,  patriots  looked  with  pride  upon 
princes  who  were  always  toiling,  and  who  boasted 
that  they  were  the  first  servants  of  their  state. 

Moreover,  the  Hohenzollerns  were  distinguished 
among  German  rulers  by  a  superior  dignity.  The 
Teutonic  Order,  after  its  defeat  in  the  fifteenth 
centuiy,  had  been  obliged  to  become  the  vassal 
of  the  Kins?  of  Poland.  Thus  the  Duke  of  Prus- 

O 

sia,  the  successor  of  the  Order,  did  homage   to 


116  Modern  Times.  ECU.  iv. 

a  foreigner.  But  the  Electors  of  Brandenburg, 
after  inheriting  the  duchy,  desired  to  free  them- 
selves from  this  humiliating  obligation.  A  war 
having  broken  out  between  the  kings  of  Sweden 
and  Poland  soon  after  the  Peace  of  Westphalia, 
the  Elector-Duke  allowed  his  allegiance  to  vacil- 
late from  the  one  to  the  other,  that  is  to  say,  he 
betrayed  the  one  after  the  other,  in  order  to  secure 
from  both  the  recognition  of  his  sovereignty.  At 
the  end  of  the  war  he  was,  in  fact,  a  sovereign. 
There  was  a  corner  of  the  earth  where  the  Hohen- 
zollern  had  above  him  no  one  except  God. 

In  the  Germany  of  that  time,  however,  there 
could  be  no  king,  because  the  Emperor  was,  in 
theory,  the  sole  sovereign;  but  a  German  prince 
could  be  king  of  a  foreign  country.  The  Elector 
of  Saxony  was  King  of  Poland ;  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg  had  the  ambition  to  be  King  of 
Prussia,  and  he  was  crowned  in  1YOO,  with  the  as- 
sent of  the  Emperor.  A  few  years  later  a  Hano- 
verian inherited  the  throne  of  England.  Prussia 
was  insignificant  compared  with  England,  or  even 
with  Poland.  The  rulers  of  these  two  countries 
regarded  themselves  as  exalted  potentates  by  the 
side  of  their  brother  of  Prussia,  but  they  were 
not  masters  in  their  own  kingdoms,  and  their 
quality  of  foreign  king  almost  effaced  that  of 
prince  of  the  Empire.  Prussia,  though  considered 
a  foreign  land,  was  German  ;  the  royal  power  was 


CH.  iv.]  Prussia,  117 

absolute ;  the  kingdom,  just  because  it  was  small 
and  modest,  did  not  absorb  the  Hohenzollerns. 
They  became  European  princes,  but  remained 
princes  of  Germany,  and  the  royal  dignity  gave 
them  greater  authority  in  the  Empire.  For  these 
reasons  they  were  in  a  less  brilliant  but  more 
favorable  position  than  the  Electors  of  Hanover 
and  Saxony. 

Brandenburg  had  for  a  long  time  been  marked 
out  as  the  enemy  of  Austria,  and  had,  since  the 
sixteenth  century,  inspired  the  latter  with  a  feeling 
of  inquietude.  Their  inequality  was  great,  but 
Brandenburg  represented  the  opposition  of  North 
Germany  against  Southern  Germany,  of  Protes- 
tantism against  Catholicism.  When  the  elector 
was  made  king,  a  conflict  between  the  two  houses 
became  inevitable.  Moreover,  Prussia  found  com- 
pensation for  her  greater  feebleness  in  the  superi- 
ority of  her  government.  The  second  King  of 
Prussia,  Frederick  William  I.,  was  still  very  insig- 
nificant and  humble  compared  with  the  Emperor. 
But  he  ruled  over  2,500,000  subjects ;  he  had  an 
army  almost  equal  in  number  to  that  of  Austria, 
and  consisting  of  better  material ;  his  finances 
were  in  very  good  order,  he  had  no  debts,  and 
savings  had  accumulated  in  the  treasury. 

To  all  these  resources  Frederick  II.,  King  of 
Prussia,  added  genius.  He  had  an  intellect  and  a 
will  that  wielded  power.  He  professed  the  great- 


118  Modern  Times.  ten.  iv. 

est  contempt  for  custom,  traditions,  and  rights; 
and  defeated  the  Emperor  more  frequently  and 
more  completely  than  was  proper  for  a  member 
of  the  Empire ;  he,  a  new-comer,  vanquished  old 
monarchies.  He  not  only  increased  his  territory 
by  annexing  Silesia  and  Polish  provinces,  but 
also  created  modern  Prussia,  and  forced  an  en- 
trance into  the  fraternity  of  the  great  powers.  His 
work  had  the  character,  the  promptitude,  and  the 
importance  of  a  revolution.  His  state,  which  he 
advanced  to  the  first  rank,  did  not  resemble  any 
other.  It  was  German  without  being  German. 
It  was  an  upstart,  and  yet  it  had  ancient  tradi- 
tions. The  Hohenzollerns  were  old  like  the  Em- 
pire ;  Brandenburg  had  been  an  electorate  since  the 
thirteenth  century ;  and  Prussia  was  the  heroic 
domain  of  the  mediaeval  German  knights.  This 
state  was  at  once  old  and  young.  It  had  the 
choice  between  two  destinies,  for  it  was  adapted 
to  the  work  of  reaction  or  to  the  work  of  revolu- 
tion. It  was  a  formidable  two-edged  weapon, 
which  struck  with  the  one  edge  or  the  other  ac- 
cording to  time  and  place. 

§  14.  Austria. 

When  we  left  Austria,  the  domain  of  the  Haps- 
burg  house  consisted  of  Austria,  Styria,  Tyrol, 
Carinthia,  and  Trieste.  Partly  German,  partly 


on.  iv.j  Austria.  119 

Slavic,  partly  Italian,  these  lands  formed  the  foun- 
dation of  the  future  tower  of  Babel,  at  the  base  of 
which  a  confusion  of  tongues  was  to  burst  forth 
ill  our  day. 

Four  causes  determined  the  modern  destiny  of 
the  Hapsburgs :  the  marriages  which  made  Charles 
V.  heir  of  the  house  of  Burgundy  and  of  the 
Spanish  crown ;  the  loyalty  of  Austria  to  Cathol- 
icism ;  the  custom  that  became  established  in 
Germany  of  always  giving  the  Empire  to  Austria ; 
and,  finally,  the  acquisition  of  Bohemia  and  Hun- 
gary in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  of  a  portion  of 
Poland  in  the  eighteenth. 

o 

It  was  the  union  of  the  Austrian,  Burgundian, 
and  Spanish  inheritances  that  brought  the  Haps- 
burgs and  the  Bourbons  into  conflict.  It  was  be- 
cause Austria  was  the  champion  of  Catholicism 
that  France  found  allies  in  Germany,  and,  waging 
war  there,  was  able  to  aid  the  German  princes  to 
become  petty  sovereigns.  The  imperial  office  gave 
some  cohesion  to  the  incongruous  aggregate  of  the 
monarchy.  Finally,  the  acquisition  of  Bohemia, 
Hungary,  and  a  part  of  Poland  made  Austria  a 
state  that  marked  a  transition  between  Western 
and  Eastern  Europe. 


120  Modern  Times.  LCH.  rv. 


§  15.  Essential  Difference  between  Prussia  and 
Austria. 

By  acquiring  the  Hungarian  kingdom,  a  Slavic 
kingdom,  and  the  fragment  of  another  Slavic 
country,  the  head  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg 
seemed  to  be  performing  the  functions  of  the  old 
march  of  Austria,  erected  in  the  Middle  Ages  to 
defend  the  frontiers  of  Christianity  against  the 
Slavs  of  the  Danube  and  against  the  Avars.  His 
prosperity  had  been  more  brilliant  than  that  of 
the  King  of  Prussia,  successor  of  those  margraves 
of  the  North  whose  early  function  was  to  oppose 
the  Slavs  of  the  Elbe  ;  but  his  prosperity  was  also 
less  substantial. 

The  King  of  Prussia  ruled  over  several  coun- 
tries that  were  not  German  in  origin — Branden- 
burgh,  Lusatia,  Silesia,  Pomerania,  Prussia,  and 
Poland;  but,  excepting  Poland,  all  had  become 
German.  The  last  of  the  old  Prussians  were  dead  ; 
a  few  words  of  their  language  survived,  an  object 
of  curiosity  to  philologists.  Dead  also  were  the 
Slavs  of  Brandenburg  and  Pomerania.  Slavs 
survived  in  Lusatia  and  Silesia,  but  submerged 
in  the  German  population,  an  object  of  curiosity 
to  ethnographers.  The  King  of  Prussia,  Elector 
of  Brandenburg,  had  taken  for  his  electoral  title 
the  name  of  Brannybor,  a  Slavic  town,  and  for  his 


OH.  iv.]     Difference  between  Prussia  and  Austria.          121 

royal  title  the  name  of  Prussia,  a  Lithuanian  coun- 
try ;  but  these  foreign  names  were  like  rich  spoils 
— spolia  opima — worn  by  a  German  king  in  mem- 
ory of  the  victory  of  his  race  over  hostile  races. 

In  the  Austrian  monarchy,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  was  a  Bohemia  entirely  inhabited  by  Tsechs, 
a  Hungary  entirely  inhabited  by  Hungarians,  and 
a  Transylvania  entirely  inhabited  by  Roumanians. 
The  Slavs  were  alive  in  all  Illyria;  the  Italians, 
in  the  Italian  dependencies ;  and  the  Poles,  in 
Poland.  When,  later  on,  the  national  spirit,  at 
the  time  of  its  awakening,  rebelled  against  the 
compacts  which  had  included  in  one  body  so  many 
diverse  entities,  Austria  found  herself  seriously 
menaced.  But  in  the  period  with  which  we  are 
now  dealing,  this  danger  was  not  yet  perceptible, 
for  the  Hapsburgs  ruled  tranquilly  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  The  monarchy  suffered  from  a 
certain  sluggishness ;  it  was  clumsy  and  not  well 
in  hand,  but  it  obeyed. 

Only  two  facts  remain  to  be  noted.  Austria 
allowed  Frederick  II.,  King  of  Prussia,  to  secure 
possession  of  Silesia,  and  this  monarch  organized  a 
coalition  of  German  princes  against  Austria,  when 
she  undertook  to  claim  Bavaria ;  in  fact,  he  for- 
bade all  increase  of  Austrian  territory  in  Germany. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  head  of  the  Austrian  house, 
having  become  King  of  Hungary,  regarded  it  as 
his  mission  to  drive  back  the  infidels,  and  to  re- 


122  Modern  Times.  CCH.  iv. 

cover  from  them  the  Hungarian  territory,  the 
greater  part  of  which  was  in  possession  of  the 
Turks.  Austria  did,  in  fact,  recover  it,  and  the 
empire  of  the  Hapsburgs  thus  became  a  great 
Danubian  power.  Note  the  omens :  a  route  closed 
toward  the  North  and  West,  and  opened  toward 
the  East. 

§  16.  Mediaeval  Russia. 

While  the  two  German  states  of  the  East  were 
thus  advancing  on  Slavic  soil,  a  new  Eastern  state 
was  completing  its  formation,  a  great  Slavic  power 
was  being  organized. 

Thus  far  we  have  been  able  to  neglect  Russia. 
She  had  almost  nothing  in  common  with  Europe, 
which  terminated  with  the  frontiers  of  Germany 
and  her  dependencies.  During  the  whole  of  the 
Middle  Ages  Russian  history  is  lost  in  the  con- 
fused annals  of  Eastern  Europe.  In  the  ninth 
century  Russia  was  separated  from  the  Baltic  by 
tribes  of  the  Finnish  and  Lithuanian  race.  Be- 
tween her  and  Carolingian  Germany  were  the 
Slavs  of  the  Elbe,  of  the  Oder,  of  Bohemia,  of 
Moravia,  of  Lusatia,  and  of  Poland.  Her  inter- 
course with  the  Euxine  and  the  Danube  was  inter- 
cepted by  Asiatic  tribes,  which  successively  occu- 
pied these  regions. 

Thus  ramparts  of  tribes  stood  between  the  Rus- 


CH.  rv.]  Mediceval  Russia.  123 

sians  and  the  Elbe  and  Danube,  which  were  then 
the  frontiers  of  history ;  also  between  the  Rus- 
sians and  the  Baltic  and  Euxine,  those  two  gulfs 
of  the  two  great  historic  seas.  It  was  necessary  to 
pierce  these  masses  in  order  to  reach  Europe. 

It  was  Europe  that  first  advanced  toward  Rus- 
sia. At  the  close  of  the  ninth  century  adventu- 
rers coming  from  Sweden  established  their  sway 
over  the  Slavs  of  Novgorod.  They  quickly  for- 
got their  Scandinavian  origin.  Thus  the  first  Rus- 
sian country,  of  which  Novgorod,  and  then  Kief, 
were  the  principal  cities,  appeared  on  the  map 
of  the  great  plain  of  the  Northeast. 

Germany  advanced  toward  Russia  by  land  :  the 
margraves  of  Brandenburg  subdued  the  tribes  be- 
tween the  Elbe  and  the  Oder.  Western  culture 
and  Christianity  penetrated  into  Bohemia,  Poland, 
and  Hungary.  But  the  religious  organization  of 
Russia  was  received  from  the  schismatic  Greeks 
It  was  Constantinople  that  converted  the  great 
Prince  Wladinrir,  at  the  close  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury. It  was  now  settled  that  Russia  would  not, 
like  Poland  and  Bohemia,  enter  the  system  of  the 
Western  Church.  On  the  other  hand,  as  she 
was  separated  from  Constantinople  by  masses  of 
barbarians,  she  did  not,  like  the  Slavs  of  the  Bal- 
kans, place  herself  under  the  protection  of  the 
Greek  Empire.  She  thus  indicated  that  she  was 
something  new  and  original.  This,  however,  was 


124  Modern  Times.  [en.  iv. 

only  the  first  uncertain  gleam.  Russia  dissolved 
into  principalities  and  republics.  In  the  thir- 
teenth century  she  fell  almost  entirely  under  the 
sway  of  the  Mongols.  Asia  spread  over  Europe, 
and  wrested  Russia  from  her. 

Europe  continued  to  advance.  Scandinavians, 
Germans,  and  Poles  overcame  the  barrier  formed 
by  the  tribes  of  the  Baltic.  The  Swedes  took 
possession  of  Finland ;  the  Germans,  of  Livonia 
and  Prussia.  The  Russians  were  now  in  direct 
contact  with  the  West.  At  one  time  the  whole 
coast  from  the  Gulf  of  Finland  to  Pornerania  be- 
longed to  the  Teutonic  Order,  whose  grand -mas- 
ter was  a  vassal  of  the  Pope  and  of  the  Emperor. 
But  in  the  fifteenth  century  Poland,  which  was 
then  united  to  Lithuania,  placed  herself  between 
Germany  and  Russia,  and  wrested  from  the  Mus- 
covite empire  a  vast  extent  of  territory.  It  then 
seemed  that  Poland  was  to  have  the  honor  of  rep- 
resenting the  Slavic  race  in  Europe  in  the  form  of 
a  great  and  independent  state. 

Nevertheless,  Russia  disengaged  herself  from 
the  embrace  of  the  Mongols.  In  the  fourteenth 
century  a  new  state  was  formed  around  Moscow, 
which  had  regained  its  independence.  While  this 
new  state  was  subordinating  to  its  sway  Russian 
principalities,  it  encroached  upon  European  Mon- 
golia, fragments  of  which  were  to  survive  long 
afterward  north  of  the  Euxine.  Finally,  when 


CH.  rvvi  Modern  Russia.  125 

the  Greek  Empire  disappeared,  tlie  Tsar  was  the 
heir  of  the  Greek  schism  and,  at  the  same  time, 
the  representative  of  Eastern  Christianity  against 
the  infidels,  and  by  this  two-fold  right  he  was  suc- 
cessor of  the  Byzantine  Caesar.  He  saw  before 
him  a  great  future. 

§  17.  Modern  Russia. 

During  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries 
the  conflict  between  the  Germans,  Scandinavians, 
and  Poles  continued  without  interruption  on  the 
shores  of  the  Baltic.  The  Russians  intervened 
several  times  with  an  energy  which  revealed  their 
desire  to  occupy  this  territory,  but  Sweden  was 
at  the  summit  of  her  strength.  She  converted  the 
Baltic  into  a  Swedish  lake.  Russia,  finding  the 
route  blocked  in  this  direction,  began  to  recover 
from  Lithuania  and  Poland  a  part  of  the  land  that 
she  had  lost.  But  it  was  toward  the  East  and  the 
South  that  she  made  the  greatest  progress.  The 
conquest  of  the  khanates  of  Kazan  and  Astrakhan 
extended  her  frontier  to  the  Caspian.  Though  the 
khans  of  the  Crimea  still  cut  off  communication 
with  the  Black  Sea,  the  supremacy  of  the  Tsar  was 
extended  over  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don,  and  the 
conquest  of  Siberia  was  begun. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  the  Russian  colossus 
prospered  upon  the  ruins  of  Sweden,  Poland,  and 


12G  Modern  Times.  ten.  iv. 

Turkey.  From  the  first  of  these  countries  she 
took  Livonia,  Esthonia,  Ingria,  and  portions  of 
Carelia  and  Finland ;  from  the  second,  the  old 
Russian  Lithuanian  provinces  and  a  large  part  of 
the  Polish  territory ;  from  the  third,  the  Crimea 
and  the  country  between  the  Bug  and  the  Dniester. 
At  the  same  time  Russia  encroached  upon  Persia, 
and  acquired  Georgia  first,  and  then  the  country 
of  the  Khirgiz.  Henceforth  she  had  access  to  the 
Baltic  and  the  Black  Sea.  She  was  near  the 
heart  of  Europe,  and  also  extended  to  the  heart  of 
Asia.  She  was  the  only  country  of  the  Continent 
that  could  increase  indefinitely  by  absorbing  bar- 
barian lands.  Her  Asiatic  empire  was  contigu- 
ous to  Europe,  and  consisted  of  a  connected, 
natural,  and,  one  might  almost  say,  inevitable  ag- 
gregation of  peoples  and  territories. 

§  18.   Characteristics  of  Russia. 

At  the  close  of  the  period  of  the  Middle  Ages 
we  enumerated  the  states  which  had  been  added 
to  Europe.  In  the  modern  period  two  new  states 
appeared :  the  United  Provinces,  whose  power  was 
of  short  duration,  and  Russia,  a  country  with  a 
great  future.  But  did  Russia  really  form  a  part 
of  Europe  ? 

In  the  ninth  century,  when  Western  Europe, 
ruled  by  the  learned  Carolingians,  was  deliberating 


CH.  iv.]  Characteristics  of  Russia.  127 

in  synods  and  assemblies  on  important  matters,  the 
Slavs  of  the  Russian  plain,  in  their  wretched  vil- 
lages, were  barbarians,  in  fact,  almost  savages.  In 
the  thirteenth  century,  when  France,  in  the  ful- 
ness of  mediaeval  civilization,  was  governed  by  St. 
Louis,  whose  political  motto  was  "  Deprive  no  one 
of  his  right,"  Russia  obeyed  the  Golden  Horde, 
whose  capital  was  a  wooden  town  on  the  banks  of 
the  Volga. 

At  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  in  the 
period  of  the  Renaissance,  Ivan  the  Terrible  caused 
to  be  decapitated,  or  decapitated  with  his  own 
hand,  thousands  of  his  victims,  whom  he  afterward 
commended  to  the  prayers  of  the  Church.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  were  the  Russians — those 
men  with  long,  flowing  beards  and  garments,  those 
women  hidden  under  veils  in  closed  litters — the 
contemporaries  of  Louis  XIV.  ?  Peter  the  Great 
suppressed  their  beards  and  veils,  but  he  did  not 
change  their  natures ;  nor  did  he  desire  to  do  this. 
He  introduced  into  his  empire  the  instruments  of 
administrative  exploitation  and  the  expedients  of 
war  employed  in  Europe;  but  he  remained  the 
Tsar,  the  lord  with  unrestricted  power,  the  father 
who  was  addressed  as  "  Thou,"  like  God,  and  who 
was  obeyed  like  God.  Against  his  power  no 
other  was  pitted — no  burghers  who  sounded  the 
belfry  bell  and  stretched  chains  across  street  cor- 
ners ;  no  body  of  judges  who,  while  charged  with 


128  Modern  Times.  ten.  iv. 

the  administration  of  the  law,  defended  it  against 
arbitrary  power ;  no  class  of  nobles  whose  pride 
of  blood  at  times  went  to  their  heads,  and  who 
preferred  war  to  the  indignity  of  servile  obedience. 
In  Russia  a  person  was  a  slave  or  a  noble,  but  a 
person  was  noble  because  he  served,  and  in  propor- 
tion to  the  extent  of  his  service.  In  this  immense 
country  an  ignorant  clergy  chanted  prayers  which 
they  did  not  understand,  and  lighted  candles  be- 
fore images,  which  the  masses  adored  with  heads 
bowed  to  the  earth. 

Russia  had  entered  the  sphere  of  European 
affairs,  but  she  was  not  a  part  of  Europe.  She 
was  something  different :  she  was  Russia. 


§  19.   Concluding    Reflections — The    Three    Re- 
gions. 

At  the  beginning  of  modern  times  England  was 
confined  to  her  island ;  France  and  Spain  were 
commencing  to  expand  abroad ;  Holland  came 
into  existence,  and  took  her  place  among  the  states 
that  were  of  importance ;  Germany  and  Italy 
were  in  disorder ;  the  Scandinavian  states  had 
been  drawn  into  general  history  by  the  contest 
for  the  Baltic  and  by  the  Reformation ;  Poland 
was  strong;  Bohemia  and  Hungary  still  main- 
tained their  independence ;  and  Turkey  was  ad- 


CH.  iv.]  Western  Europe.  129 

vancing  with  vigorous  strides.  Russia  had  not 
yet  found  a  place  among  the  European  powers. 

All  these  states  during  the  modern  period  were 
brought  into  mutual  relation  by  politics  and  war. 
There  was  thenceforth  one  Europe,  the  individual 
members  of  which  knew  each  other  and  each 
other's  designs,  entered  into  alliances  when  they 
had  common  interests,  and  fought  when  their  in- 
terests conflicted. 

Nevertheless,  Europe  was  divided  into  three 
very  distinct  political  regions  :  England,  Western 
Europe,  and  Eastern  Europe. 

§  20.    Western  Europe. 

The  history  of  Western  Europe  was  dominated 
by  the  consequences  of  matrimonial  politics.  Dur- 
ing two  centuries  this  region  was  disturbed  be- 
cause Maximilian,  Archduke  of  Austria,  had  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  Charles  the  Bold,  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  and  had  united  his  son  to  Joan  the  Mad, 
heiress  of  Spain.  Spain  and  France  exhausted 
themselves  in  mutual  combat,  the  one  to  guard 
the  benefits  of  family  alliances,  the  other  to  ward 
off  the  dangers  which  these  alliances  involved, 
and  to  remove  the  obstacles  which  they  placed 
in  the  way  of  her  growth.  All  these  efforts, 
wars,  and  negotiations,  in  which  great  princes, 
statesmen,  and  generals  distinguished  themselves, 


130  Modern  Times.  [CH.  rv. 

ended  in  little  more  than  the  restoration  of  the 
statu  quo  ante  helium.  Spain  and  Austria  again 
became  distinct  powers ;  Spain  was  confined  to  her 
old  limits ;  France  remained  what  she  had  been, 
with  some  additions  of  territory ;  and  the  Neth- 
erlands belonged,  as  before,  to  neither  of  the  two 
rivals.  This  was  certainly  a  meagre  result !  It 
is  a  mistake  to  admire  so  ardently  what  the  epi- 
tomes of  history  call  "  the  grand  politics  of  modern 
times." 

These  politics  were  evolved  in  a  time  near  our 
own.  They  are  clearly  revealed  in  the  full  light 
of  history.  We  know  the  actors  therein  inti- 
mately, through  the  information  which  they  have 
given  concerning  themselves,  or  which  others  have 
handed  down  to  us.  Almost  all  of  them  have  a 
certain  charm,  and  some  are  great  personages.  The 
documents  of  the  period  are  not  merely  easy  to 
read ;  many  of  them  are  French  classics.  It  is  for 
this  reason  that  we  are  apt  to  exaggerate  the  im- 
portance of  the  episodes  of  this  period  of  history. 

After  the  lapse  of  some  hundreds  of  years,  when 
these  glorious  wars  and  great  treaties  are  viewed 
Avith  a  proper  perspective,  the  historian  will  not 
assign  an  important  place  in  the  general  history 
of  the  world  to  these  two  centuries,  which  West- 
ern Europe  put  to  such  poor  use. 

In  fact,  after  the  Western  states  had  settled 
their  quarrels,  it  was  found  that  the  interest  of 


en.  iv.]  Eastern  Europe.  131 

history  lay  elsewhere — in  the  extreme  West,  where 
England  was  becoming  the  great  colonial  power ; 
and  in  the  East,  where  certain  powers,  old  and  new, 
were  gaining  ground. 

§  21.  Eastern  Europe. 

The  organization  of  the  East  is,  on  the  whole,  the 
capital  fact  of  modern  times.  In  the  Middle  Ages 
the  East  was  the  scene  of  irregular  efforts  and 
brilliant  improvisations.  It  is  true  that  the  king- 
doms of  Hungary,  Bohemia,  and  Poland  had  been 
formed  in  this  region ;  and  that  they,  together  with 
the  Scandinavian  states,  which  were  necessarily 
implicated  in  the  affairs  of  the  East  on  account 
of  the  Baltic,  constituted  a  series  of  new  entities. 
But  the  colonization  of  the  coasts  had  been  accom- 
plished in  a  disorderly  way,  the  work  having  been 
divided  between  the  Scandinavians  and  the  Ger- 
mans ;  the  latter  had  founded  two  knightly  states, 
which,  though  reduced  in  extent  and  decaying, 
still  subsisted  in  the  fifteenth  century.  In  the 
Southeast,  Turkey  completed  the  incoherent  and 
picturesque  aspect  of  the  East  at  the  close  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 

At  the  close  of  the  modern  period  all  these  states 
were  in  decay,  or  had  ceased  to  exist.  Poland  had 
died  of  political  anarchy,  which  had  been  cynically 
nourished  by  her  neighbors.  Bohemia  and  Hun- 
gary were  dependencies  of  the  Austrian  monarchy. 


132  Modern  Times.  CCH.  iv. 

Sweden  had  been,  in  the  seventeenth  century — 
even  earlier  than  Prussia — a  state  organized  for 
the  production  of  an  army;  but  the  kings  over- 
taxed  the  country's  strength,  and  expended  their 
energies  upon  enterprises  that  were  too  extensive. 
Prussia's  ambition,  on  the  other  hand,  was  always 
directed  to  some  precise,  circumscribed,  and  very 
tangible  object;  as  soon  as  an  advantage  was 
attainable,  she  attained  it.  There  was  always 
something  chimerical  and  adventurous,  after  the 
Norman  fashion,  in  Swedish  ambition.  Sweden 
attempted  to  dominate  Germany,  to  arrest  the 
progress  of  Russia,  to  make  the  Baltic  a  Swedish 
lake ;  her  king  wished  to  become  King  of  Poland. 
This  was  going  too  far,  and  Charles  XII.  lost  his 
army  on  the  steppes  of  Russia.  Then,  as  if  realiz- 
ing the  prediction  made  at  Vienna  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  the  snow-king  melted. 

Turkey  inundated  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, in  the  first  fervor  of  her  success.  After- 
ward she  defended  herself  and  maintained  her 
position,  with  some  fortunate  returns  to  the  of- 
fensive, thanks  to  a  military  organization  which 
was  barbarous  but  very  potent.  This  organization 
gradually  declined.  When  the  janissaries  married 
and  became  fathers  of  families,  they  ceased  to  be  a 
formidable  military  force,  and  Turkey  became 
enervated. 

On  this  foundation  of  decayed  and  ruined  states 


CH.  iv.]  Eastern  Europe.  133 

Prussia,  Russia,  and  Austria  were  aggrandized. 
These  three  military  powers  divided  the  East 
among  themselves,  and  substituted,  after  their 
fashion,  order  for  chaos.  Hence  their  desti- 
nies were,  to  a  certain  extent,  associated.  To- 
gether they  modified  the  political  history  of 
Europe  by  breaking  down  the  preponderance  of 
France.  This  they  accomplished  by  destroying  or 
weakening  the  kingdoms  which  French  state-craft 
held  at  the  end  of  its  guiding  -  strings,  namely, 
Sweden,  Poland,  and  Turkey. 

Thus  there  was  an  Eastern  Europe  massed 
against  Western  Europe,  but  divided  against  it- 
self. The  ambitions  of  the  Eastern  courts  were 
discordant.  After  the  suppression  of  the  inter- 
mediate countries,  Prussia  and  Austria  bordered 
on  Russia,  while  Austria  and  Russia  approached 
each  other  along  the  Danube.  To  whom  shall  the 
spoils  of  Turkey  fall  ?  Who  shall  have  the  honor 
of  awakening  the  people  who  were  asleep  under 
the  Ottoman  yoke  ?  Of  the  three  partners  in  the 
division  of  Poland,  which  one  will  prevail  over 
the  other  two  ?  The  kings  of  Prussia,  successors 
of  the  margraves  of  the  North,  and  the  Hapsburg 
emperors,  successors  of  the  margraves  of  the  East, 
trafficked  with  the  Slavic  enemy,  and  extended 
the  German  frontier ;  but  they  brought  the  Rus- 
sian frontier  nearer  to  theirs.  Who  made  the  best 
bargain,  Prussia,  Austria,  or  Russia  ?  The  three 


134  Modern  Times.  ICH.  iv. 

potentates  who  had  been  guilty  of  this  dreadful 
abuse  of  power  were  occupied  with  the  partition 
of  Poland  at  the  moment  when  the  era  of  the 
French  Revolution  dawned  upon  the  world. 

§  22.  New  Manners  and  New  Ideas. 

The  political  history  of  modern  times  is  thus 
replete  with  war.  It  certainly  has  some  admira- 
ble pages.  It  moves  us  when  it  is  animated  by 
religious  passions,  and  when  there  are  martyrs  in 
the  multitude  of  the  slain.  It  interests  us  when 
it  shows  either  the  development  of  a  nation,  like 
France  or  England,  or  the  creation  of  an  arti- 
ficial state,  like  Prussia.  It  displays  the  employ- 
ment of  the  natural  gifts  of  the  different  coun- 
tries, and  the  operation  of  genius,  discipline,  and 
courage.  But  it  is  without  principles,  without 
the  restraint  of  probity  or  honor,  without  gener- 
osity, and  without  pity.  The  nations  dwelt  to- 
gether like  men  in  the  state  of  nature.  The  last 
great  political  act  of  Europe  before  the  French 
Revolution  was  an  assassination,  tranquilly  pre- 
meditated and  executed  in  cold  blood. 

The  intellectual  and  moral  life  of  modern  times 
was,  however,  preparing  the  way  for  the  intro- 
duction of  other  ideas  into  politics. 

Since  the  fifteenth  century  manners  had  been 
softened  and  polished.  Men  and  castles  had  been 


CH.  iv.]  New  Manners  and  New  Ideas.  135 

divested  of  the  habiliments  of  war ;  the  chevalier 
had  become  a  cavalier,  and  the  tournament  a 
carousal.  The  denizens  of  the  castles  and  com- 
munes, who  in  former  times  had  been  isolated  from 
their  fellow-men,  acquired  a  taste  for  "  society " 
and  "politeness."  Art — formerly  the  product  of 
guilds — philosophy,  literature,  and  science — for- 
merly the  property  of  the  Church  and  the  schools 
— emerged  from  these  privileged  bodies,  and  were 
freely  diffused  throughout  society. 

The  Renaissance  studied  man  and  nature,  and 
won  them  back  from  the  dominion  of  faith  and 
from  the  disinclination  to  observe.  In  the  com- 
mon effort  for  the  attainment  of  truth,  every 
country  accomplished  something ;  but  a  common 
spirit,  international  by  its  very  name — humanism 
—circulated  everywhere. 

The  expression  of  the  human  mind  in  the  Middle 
Ages  had  been  scholasticism,  that  is  to  say,  the  in- 
terpretation of  texts;  the  expression  of  the  hu- 
manistic spirit  was  reason,  that  is  to  say,  the 
affirmation  of  truth,  evident  or  demonstrated. 
Reason  could  not  fail  to  be  revolutionary,  because 
it  denied  tradition  and  built  on  a  tabula  rasa.  It 
seemed  at  first  to  be  entirely  disinterested,  lofty, 
and  serene,  but  very  soon  it  stooped  to  regard  life, 
manners,  and  politics.  Finding  these  unreason- 
able, it  began  to  wage  war  against  unreason,  and 
became  the  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth  century. 


136  Modern  Times.  ton.  iv. 

This  new  power  was  dangerous.  Though  ap- 
plying itself  to  practical  life,  it  remained  absolute  ; 
it  was  also  ignorant,  not  knowing  the  historical 
legitimacy  of  existing  things.  It  did  not  compre- 
hend the  cathedrals,  and  it  enveloped  their  ori- 
gin, or,  rather,  the  causes  of  their  origin,  in  very 
frivolous  disdain  for  "  Gothic  barbarism."  It  did 
not  discern  the  various  nations,  and  it  claimed  to 
impose  upon  all  humanity,  as  upon  a  single  real 
being,  the  uniformity  of  its  principles  and  the  ba- 
nality of  common  sense.  These  errors  were  to  be 
cruelly  expiated.  But  we  should  not  forget  the 
beneficial  results  of  "  philosophy." 

While  the  thought  of  the  eighteenth  century 
was  active  in  each  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  it 
was  also,  in  various  ways,  preparing  profound  mod- 
ifications in  international  relations.  The  theories 
of  the  economists  concerning  the  efficacy,  dignity, 
and  freedom  of  labor,  their  laissez  faire,  laissez 
passer,  were  the  absolute  contradiction  of  the 
old  commercial  policy.  The  idea  everywhere  ex- 
pressed and  imposed  upon  the  kings,  that  sover- 
eignty was  not  property  of  which  a  person  had 
the  usufruct,  but  a  magistracy  prescribing  duties, 
was  lowering  the  prince  to  the  second  plane,  was 
placing  the  country  above  him,  and  was,  sooner 
or  later,  to  substitute  for  the  politics  of  the  sover- 
eigns that  of  the  nations.  Philosophy,  by  preach- 
ing tolerance  and  rejecting  religion,  was  seculariz- 


cH.rv.]  New  Manners  and  New  Ideas.  137 

ing  politics.  Finally,  philosophy  was  preparing, 
in  a  confused  way,  a  future  of  innovations,  by  its 
general  and  generous  ideas  of  humanity  and  jus- 
tice ;  by  Utopias,  like  that  of  the  Abbe  de  Saint- 
Pierre  ;  by  the  very  prejudices  against  the  past ;  by 
thoughtless  hatred  of  all  customs  and  the  alliance 
of  sarcasm  against  "  the  traces  of  barbarism  ;  "  by 
the  affirmation  that  "  things  cannot  continue  as 
they  are,"  and  that  the  next  generations  "  will  see 
great  things ;  "  by  the  Adveniat  regnum  tuum 
addressed  to  "  the  light." 

At  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  France 
no  longer  guided  general  European  politics.  The 
last  two  great  conflicts — the  War  of  the  Austrian 
Succession  and  the  Seven  Years'  War — had  been 
disastrous  to  her;  the  second  of  these  had  im- 
paired her  fame.  By  land  and  by  sea  the  power 
of  France  was  curtailed.  The  revenge  that  she 
wreaked  on  England,  in  the  American  War  of  In- 
dependence, did  not  compensate  for  her  earlier  dis- 
asters. That  war  was,  however,  something  else 
than  an  act  of  reprisal.  It  was  the  work  of  the 
new  spirit,  a  very  noble  action  undertaken  with 
sincere  enthusiasm.  France  had  declined  in  the 
old  political  world ;  but  it  was  she  who  had  de- 
nounced and  disowned  that  world  with  the  great- 
est energy.  She  held,  and  was  about  to  sound,  the 
trumpet  of  judgment. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 
§  1.  Destruction  of  Europe. 

No  country  ever  influenced  Europe  as  France 
did  between  1789  and  1815.  Impelled  by  two 
dreams — the  dream  of  a  war  against  the  kings  on 
behalf  of  the  people,  and  the  dream  of  the  founda- 
tion of  an  empire  of  the  Caesarian  or  Carolingian 
type — the  French  armies  overran  the  Continent, 
and  trampled  under  foot,  as  they  went,  much  rank 
vegetation,  which  has  never  risen  again. 

Non-commissioned  officers  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  generals,  dukes,  and  kings,  and  a  subaltern  who 
became  emperor,  were  novelties  compared  with 
generals  taken  from  the  ranks  of  lords,  archdukes, 
and  princes.  The  former  emerged,  fully  armed, 
not  from  a  court,  but  from  the  very  marrow  of  a 
people.  Both  generals  and  emperor  attacked  an- 
cient institutions.  The  generals  threw  into  the 
Rhine  the  mitres  of  the  electoral  archbishops,  and 
covered  Italy,  the  classic  land  of  tyrants,  with  re- 
publics. The  emperor,  on  the  day  of  the  battle  of 


CH.  v.]  Destruction  of  Europe.  139 

Austerlitz,  destroyed  the  Holy  Eoraan  Empire  of 
the  German  Nation.  Some  years  later  he  decreed 
that  "  whereas  "  the  temporal  power  bestowed  by 
Charlemagne,  his  "  glorious  predecessor,"  upon 
the  Pope  was  being  put  to  a  bad  use,  it  should 
be  taken  from  him. 

Napoleon  covered  the  Revolution  with  an  ar- 
chseological  mantle.  The  recollections  of  Koine 
haunted  his  memory  only  less  than  those  of  Char- 
lemagne, whose  name  he  often  uttered.  The  last 
gleams  of  the  past  penetrated  to  him,  mingling 
with  his  glory  and  deranging  his  mind ;  but  the 
Revolution  imbued  him..  He  served  it  when  he 
disembroiled  the  chaos  of  Germany,  when  he  made 
Northern  Italy  a  kingdom,  when  he  imprisoned 
the  Pope  who  had  been  forced  to  crown  him  in 
Notre-Dame,  and  when  he  vaguely  thought  of 
wresting  Poland  from  the  eagles  that  were  sharing 
her  territory.  He  also  served  it,  despite  and  in 
opposition  to  himself,  when,  oppressing  Europe  to 
satisfy  his  caprice,  he  aroused  the  souls  of  the 
Spaniards  and  the  Germans.  He  was  the  Revo- 
lution and  the  destroyer  of  the  ancient  regime,  to 
such  an  extent  that  his  fall  was  followed  by  a 
return  to  the  offensive  on  the  part  of  old  Europe. 
The  great  despot  was  saluted  during  his  captivity 
in  St.  Helena  as  a  deliverer,  and  was  venerated  as 
such  after  his  death,  because  he  had  made  pope, 
emperor,  and  tsar  tremble. 


140  The  Nineteenth  Century.  CCH.  v. 


§  2.  Restoration  of  Europe. 

After  their  victory,  in  1815,  the  old  monarchies 
repaired,  as  well  as  they  could,  the  Europe  that 
France  had  shattered.  The  East  was  restored 
almost  to  the  condition  in  which  it  had  been  in 
the  eighteenth  century.  The  grand  -  duchy  of 
Warsaw,  which  was  an  attempt  to  reconstruct 
Poland,  vanished.  Russia  and  Austria  remained 
the  vanguards  of  Europe  against  Turkey,  which 
continued  to  lose  ground.  Italy  was  again  di- 
vided among  princes,  dominated  over  by  Aus- 
tria, which  seemed  to  recover  the  old  imperial 
rights  over  the  Peninsula.  Spain  regained  her 
wretched  dynasty.  England,  which  had  been  the 
leading  spirit  in  the  formation  of  a  permanent 
coalition  against  France,  was  more  than  ever  the 
undisputed  sovereign  of  the  seas.  Thus  the  work 
of  the  Revolution  appeared  to  be  destroyed. 

Nevertheless,  the  restoration  was  not  complete. 
Austria  did  not  recover  Belgium ;  the  latter  was 
united  to  Holland,  in  order  that  the  kingdom  of 
the  Netherlands  should  have  considerable  weight 
along  the  frontier  of  France.  Germany  could  not 
be  restored  to  her  three  hundred  princes,  for  most 
of  those  that  the  Revolution  and  the  Empire 
had  crushed,  remained  buried  in  the  ruins.  Ger- 
many, which  before  the  Revolution  was  neither  a 


t'H.  v.]  Patriotism  of  the  Revolution.  141 

monarchial  nor  a  feudal  nor  a  federal  state,  be- 
came a  confederation  with  thirty-nine  members. 
This  confederation  contained  within  itself  the 
germs  of  death ;  for  the  princes  were  the  only 
ones  who  had  any  weight  in  its  councils,  and 
they  were  very  unequal  in  power.  Prussia,  ag- 
grandized, and  charged  with  the  defence  of  the 

<_j  /  o 

Rhine  against  France,  was  more  than  ever  the 
rival  of  Austria,  whose  old  titles  to  glory  and  pre- 
eminence had  given  her  the  presidency  of  the  Diet 
at  Frankfort.  But  badly  constituted  as  she  was, 
Germany  had  been  simplified.  She  felt  that  she 
was  nearer  the  great  object  of  the  ambition  of 
her  patriots,  who  aspired  to  become  a  nation. 

Thus  the  old  regime  was  not  able  to  recover 
possession  of  the  whole  of  Europe.  The  treaties 
of  1815  accepted  accomplished  facts.  Whatever 
their  work  was,  the  princes  found  it  good,  vi- 
derunt  quod  esset  bonum.  Like  the  Creator,  they 
wished  to  rest,  after  having  appointed  the  Holy 
Alliance  guardian  of  reconstructed  Europe.  But 
ideas  had  been  diffused  through  the  world  that 
were  to  engender  new  revolutions. 

§  3.   Patriotism  of  the  Revolution. 

Excepting  England,  a  country  of  slow  and  con- 
tinuous transformations,  in  which  the  present  is  not 
separated  from  the  past  by  visible  lines  of  demar- 


142  The  Nineteenth  Century.  [CH.  v. 

cation,  Europe  has  been  transformed  since  the 
Revolution.  Before  1789  she  had  no  real  nations. 
At  the  present  day  they  are  abundant. 

In  France,  the  loyalty  of  the  nobility,  a  very 
noble  sentiment,  and  the  love  of  the  people  for  the 
king,  a  very  touching  sentiment,  used  to  take  the 
place  of  patriotism.  When,  owing  to  the  faults  of 
its  kings,  the  country  detached  itself  from  royalty, 
it  raised  itself  all  at  once  to  the  idea  of  humanity. 
French  writers  of  the  eighteenth  century  rediscov- 
ered this  idea,  which  had  been  lost  since  the  time 
of  Plato,  Seneca,  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  or,  at  least, 
had  been  replaced  in  the  Middle  Ages  by  the  ec- 
clesiastical idea  of  Christianity,  and  later  on  by 
the  political  idea  of  Europe. 

The  Revolution  created  the  fatherland,  or  patria, 
as  we  understand  the  term  at  the  present  day.  In 
vain  had  the  revolutionists  been  the  disciples  of 
the  philosophers,  in  vain  had  they  guided  them- 
selves by  general  principles  and  made  laws  of 
pure  reason ;  in  spite  of  their  philosophy,  they 
were  French  patriots.  For  the  kingdom  of  France 
they  substituted  the  French  nation — in  other  words, 
a  moral  entity  for  a  political  expression.  They 
declared  the  national  soil  to  be  sacred  and  indi- 
visible, treated  emigration  as  a  crime,  invasion  as  a 
sacrilege,  and  proclaimed,  with  tragic  enthusiasm 
and  tocsin-like  declamation,  that  all  men  owed  a 
duty  to  their  native  country  in  time  of  danger. 


CH.  v.]  The  Principle  of  Nationality.  143 


§  4.  The  Principle  of  Nationality. 

Nevertheless,  on  becoming  self-conscious,  the 
French  nation  could  not  escape  the  effects  of  its 
philosophical  education.  In  the  code  of  principles 
forming  the  "  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man," 
France  did  not  legislate  merely  for  her  own  ben- 
efit. The  "  Declaration "  asserts  that  "  the  prin- 
ciple of  all  sovereignty  resides  in  the  nation." 
Whence  it  follows  that  the  nations,  being  collect- 
ive entities  composed  of  men  who  desire  to  live 
under  the  same  laws,  ought  neither  to  be  governed 
by  foreigners  nor  to  be  incorporated,  wholly  or  in 
part,  with  foreign  states :  they  are  independent 
and  indivisible.  Moreover,  they  are  free.  "  Law 
is  the  expression  of  the  general  will.  All  citizens 
have  the  right  to  co-operate  personally  or  by  their 
representatives  in  its  formation."  The  nation,  as 
thus  defined,  forms  an  absolute  contrast  with  the 
states  of  former  times,  which  grouped  together, 
but  did  not  unite,  nations  or  fragments  of  various 
nations,  no  one  of  which  made  its  own  laws. 

These  two  maxims  of  the  "  Declaration  "  have, 
in  part,  guided  the  history  of  our  century. 

In  the  sixteenth,  and  even  in  the  seventeenth, 
century  there  were  international  religious  parties ; 
in  the  nineteenth  century  political  parties  and  pas- 
sions overstep  the  frontiers.  The  Holy  Alliance 


144  The  Nineteenth  Century.  ECH.V. 

of  sovereigns  was  "  international."  Its  purpose 
was  to  maintain  the  work  of  reaction  accomplished 
at  Vienna  against  the  principle  of  nationality  based 
upon  consent  and  that  of  political  freedom.  In 
every  country  of  Europe  this  Alliance  had  adher- 
ents and  also  opponents,  the  latter  known  as  "  na- 
tionalists" or  "liberals."  The  conflict  between 
the  two  camps  was  directed  by  France. 

Since  the  Revolution  France  has  lived  in  a  state 
of  political  instability.  Her  enemies  and  even  her 
own  sons  have  reproached  her  for  the  number  of 
her  constitutions  and  for  her  periodical  revolutions. 
Nevertheless,  if  she  needs  more  than  a  century  to 
establish  herself  firmly  under  the  new  regime,  it 
should  not  cause  much  astonishment.  The  Eng- 
lish Revolution,  properly  understood,  lasted  longer. 
But,  amid  all  these  fluctuations,  France  has  had 
fixed  ideas.  Though  faithless  once  to  the  cause  of 
political  freedom,  the  ways  of  which  are  not  to  be 
learned  in  fifty  years,  she  is  constantly  progress- 
ing as  a  democracy.  On  the  other  hand,  she  has 
defended  against  all  comers,  even  against  her  own 
interests,  the  principle  of  nationality.  That  is  why 
she  has  been,  during  the  greater  part  of  this  cen- 
tury, a  motive  power.  Her  liberals  have  set  the 
fashion  for  the  liberals  of  Europe  ;  her  revolutions 
have  disturbed  the  whole  Continent.  Those  of 
1830  and  1848  emboldened  liberals  and  nationalists 
of  all  countries  ;  nor  did  the  year  1851  discourage 


CH.VO  The  New  Nations.  145 

the  latter.  Since  1870  France  has  represented, 
more  than  ever,  the  principles  of  freedom  and 
nationality. 

§  5.  The  New  Nations. 

Let  us  now  consider  what  obstacles  were  ob- 
structing the  principle  of  nationality  in  1815. 
Belgium  had  been  united,  against  her  will,  to  Hol- 
land. The  assignment  of  Holstein  to  the  King  of 
Denmark  had  placed  Germans  under  the  govern- 
ment of  a  Dane.  Germany  and  Italy  had  been 
divided  into  sovereign  states  that  were  hostile  to 
every  form  of  national  constitution ;  moreover,  one 
of  the  fairest  portions  of  the  territory  of  Italy  was 
under  the  Austrian  yoke.  Poland  was  divided 
among  three  states ;  Bohemia  and  Hungary  re- 
mained incorporated,  without  special  rights,  in 
the  Austrian  empire ;  on  the  Danube  and  in  the 
Balkan  Peninsula  various  nationalities  were  under 
the  government  of  the  Sultan.  Thus  the  most 
formidable  powers  were  leagued  against  the  new 
principle. 

Nevertheless,  it  has  made  great  progress. 
Europe  of  1891  no  longer  resembles  that  of  1815. 
Greece  was  the  first  to  recover  her  national  life, 
and  Belgium  has  been  separated  from  Holland. 
The  German  duchies  have  been  taken  from  the 
King  of  Denmark.  Hungary  has  secured  a  con- 
10 


146  77;<?  Nineteenth  Century.  CH.  v. 

stitution  of  her  own  in  the  Austrian  monarchy. 
Germany  and  Italy,  those  victims  of  the  priesthood 
and  the  Empire,  have  become  nations;  and,  by 
an  inevitable  vicissitude  of  fortune,  Italy  has  shut 
up  the  Pope  in  the  Vatican,  and  Germany  has  cast 
from  her  bosom  the  successor  of  the  emperors. 
Some  concessions  have  also  been  made  to  the  na- 
tional sentiment  of  the  Slavic  countries  of  the 
Austrian  realm.  Finally,  out  of  dismembered  Tur- 
key have  emerged,  as  separate  nations,  Roumania, 
Servia,  and  Montenegro ;  while  Bulgaria  and  Rou- 
melia  now  recognize  the  suzerainty  of  the  Sultan 
only  by  the  payment  of  a  tribute,  and  are  at 
present  serving  the  apprenticeship  of  their  inde- 
pendence. 

There  are  some  admirable  pages  in  the  history 
of  these  revolutions.  The  Hellenic  outbreak  was 
aided  by  poetic  sentiments — admiration  for  the 
heroes  of  this  war  of  independence,  and  gratitude 
to  a  country  that  has  been  such  an  honor  to 
humanity.  The  Belgian  revolution  was  a  double 
application  of  the  principle  of  nationality.  The 
Belgians  began  by  separating  themselves  from  a 
state  under  whose  laws  they  did  not  wish  to  live ; 
then,  in  spite  of  affinities  of  race  and  language 
that  drew  them  toward  France,  they  secured  for 
themselves  a  separate  national  life. 

The  Slavic  nationalities  regained  a  consciousness 
of  their  existence  before  claiming  the  right  to  exist. 


CH.  v.]  Definition  of  "  Nationality."  147 

The  songs  of  their  ancient  poets,  the  narrations  of 
their  historians,  and  the  legends  of  their  remote 
past  revealed  them  to  themselves,  so  that  their 
patriotic  writers,  whether  philologists  or  histori- 
ans, may  be  considered  founders  of  states.  This  is 
something  new  in  the  world. 

Herein,  then,  we  find  the  great  characteristic  of 
our  century.  A  principle  —  not,  as  formerly,  a 
prince's  convenience,  a  marriage,  a  bequest,  or 
the  ambition  to  gain  victories  and  to  conquer — has 
caused  several  wars,  the  result  of  which  has  been, 
not  territorial  acquisition  and  the  destruction  of 
peoples,  but  the  reconstruction  of  old,  and  the  cre- 
ation of  new,  nations. 

The  principle  of  nationality  has  thus  achieved 
victories,  but  the  most  violent  combats  remain  to 
be  fought.  There  are  various  reasons  for  believ- 
ing that  its  complete  and  final  triumph  will  be  pre- 
vented. 

§  6.  Definition  of  "  Nationality  " — Imperfection 
of  National  Development. 

In  the  first  place,  the  subject  is  obscured  by  un- 
certainty as  to  the  definition  of  the  term  "nation- 
ality." Among  the  French  a  nationality  is  re- 
garded as  the  work  of  history,  ratified  by  the  will 
of  man.  The  elements  composing  it  may  be  very 
different  in  their  origin.  The  point  of  departure 


148  Tf}e  Nineteenth  Century.  tea  v. 

is  of  little  importance  ;  the  only  essential  thing  is 
the  point  reached. 

The  Swiss  nationality  is  the  most  complete.  It 
embraces  three  families  of  people,  each  of  which 
speaks  its  own  language.  Moreover,  since  the 
Swiss  territory  belongs  to  three  geographical  re- 
gions, separated  by  high  mountains,  Switzerland, 
which  has  vanquished  the  fatality  of  nature,  from 
both  the  ethnographical  and  geographical  point  of 
view,  is  a  unique  and  wonderful  phenomenon. 
But  she  is  a  confederation,  and  for  a  long  time 
has  been  a  neutral  country.  Thus  her  constitution 
has  not  been  subjected  to  the  great  ordeal  of  fire 
and  sword. 

France,  despite  her  diverse  races — Celtic,  Ger- 
man, Roman,  and  Basque — has  formed  a  political 
entity  that  most  resembles  a  moral  person.  The 
Bretons  and  the  Alsacians,  who  do  not  all  under- 
stand the  language  of  her  government,  have  not 
been  the  least  devoted  of  her  children  in  the  hour 
of  tribulation.  Among  the  great  nations  France 
is  the  nation  par  excellence.  Elsewhere  the  na- 
tionality blends,  or  tends  to  blend,  with  the  race, 
a  natural  development  and,  hence,  one  devoid  of 
merit. 

All  the  countries  that  have  not  been  able  to 
unite  their  races  into  a  nation,  have  a  more  or  less 
troubled  existence.  Prussia  has  not  been  able  to 
nationalize  (that  is  the  proper  word  to  use)  her 


en.  v.]          Imperfection  of  National  Development.          149 

Polish  subjects ;  hence  she  has  a  Polish  question, 
not  to  mention  at  present  any  other.  England  has 
an  Irish  question.  Both  Turkey  and  Austria  have 
a  number  of  such  questions.  Groups  of  people  in 
various  parts  of  the  Austrian  Empire  demand  from 
the  Emperor  that  they  may  be  allowed  to  live  as 
Germans,  Hungarians,  Tsechs,  Croatians,  in  fact, 
even  as  Italians.  They  do  not  revolt  against  him; 
on  the  contrary,  each  of  them  offers  him  a  crown. 
The  time  is,  however,  past  when  a  single  head  can 
wear  several  crowns ;  to-day  every  crown  is  heavy. 

These  race  claims  are  not  merely  a  cause  of  in- 
ternal troubles ;  the  agitations  that  they  arouse 
may  lead  to  great  wars.  Evidently  no  state  will 
ever  interpose  between  Ireland  and  England  ;  but, 
while  quarrels  take  place  between  Germans  and 
Slavs,  there  will  intervene  the  two  conflicting 
forces  of  Pan-Germanism  and  Pan -Slavism,  for- 
midable results  and  final  consequences  of  ethno- 
graphical patriotism. 

Pan-Germanism  and  Pan-Slavism  are,  indeed,  not 
forces  officially  acknowledged  and  organized.  The 
Emperor  of  Germany  can  honestly  deny  that  he  is 
a  Pan-Germanist,  and  the  Tsar  that  he  is  a  Pan- 
Slavist.  Germans  and  Slavs  of  Austria,  and 
Slavs  of  the  Balkans,  may,  for  their  part,  desire 
to  remain  Austrian  or  independent,  as  they  are  to- 
day. It  is  none  the  less  true,  however,  that  there 
is  in  Europe  an  old  quarrel  between  two  great 


150  The  Nineteenth  Century.  ICH.V. 

races,  that  each  of  them  is  represented  by  a  power- 
ful empire,  and  that  these  empires  cannot  forever 
remain  unconcerned  about  the  quarrels  of  the  two 
races. 


§  7.  Application  of  the  Principle  of  Nationality 
to  Italy. 

The  chief  application  of  the  principle  of  na- 
tionality has  been  the  formation  of  the  Italian 
and  German  nations.  In  former  times  the  exist- 
ence, in  the  centre  of  the  Continent,  of  two  objects 
of  greed  was  a  permanent  cause  of  war.  Will  the 
substitution  of  two  important  states  for  German 
anarchy  and  Italian  polyarchy  prove  a  guaranty 
of  future  peace  ? 

We  must  distinguish  between  Germany  and 
Italy.  The  national  revolution  has  been  accom- 
plished in  a  very  different  way  in  the  two  coun- 
tries. 

Italian  unity  is  almost  completed,  for  the  num- 
ber of  Italians  remaining  outside  the  new  kingdom 
is  not  great.  On  the  other  hand,  this  nation  con- 
tains only  Italians.  The  union  was  accomplished 
for  the  profit  of  a  prince,  the  King  of  Piedmont, 
who  certainly  had  claims  to  the  honor.  Moreover, 
he  was  not  powerful  enough  to  make  the  unifica- 
tion resemble  a  conquest  of  the  Peninsula  by  the 
Piedmontese.  In  fact,  after  the  inhabitants  of  the 


CH.  v.]  Principle  of  Nationality  in  Italy.  151 

various  principalities  had  given  their  assent  to  the 
union,  Piedmont  disappeared  in  the  nation,  and 
Victor  Emmanuel  ceased  to  be  King  of  Piedmont 
on  becoming  King  of  Italy.  Finally,  the  Italian 
nationality  came  into  existence  without  any  viola- 
tion of  the  principle  of  nationality.  France,  in 
compensation  for  her  sacrifices,  obtained  Savoy 
and  the  county  of  Nice.  But  the  sovereign  of 
these  countries,  who  granted  them  to  the  French, 
had  not  been  conquered  by  the  French ;  he  had 
been  conqueror  in  company  with  them  and  with 
their  help.  Moreover,  the  inhabitants  of  Savoy 
and  the  county  of  Nice  formally  consented  to  be- 
come Frenchmen.  Thus  the  new  law  was  here 
applied  in  all  its  tenor.  But  let  us  consider  the 
results. 

On  becoming  a  great  power,  Italy  desired  to 
have  the  army,  the  navy,  and  the  policy  of  a  great 
power.  Wisdom,  perhaps,  directed  this  new  na- 
tion to  taste  tranquilly  the  joy  of  feeling  herself 
grow,  after  having  experienced  the  joy  of  feeling 
herself  come  into  being.  But  she  did  not  have 
complete  possession  of  herself.  She  was  not  en- 
tirely in  her  own  home  like  the  other  nations. 
All  the  soil  between  the  Alps  and  the  promon- 
tories of  Sicily  is  not  Italian.  In  the  centre  of 
this  region  stands  a  palace  surrounded  with  a 
garden :  it  is  the  domain  of  St.  Peter.  Here  the 
King  of  Italy  does  not  enter. 


152  The  Nineteenth  Century.  tcn.v. 

The  Apostle  Peter  is  a  victim  of  the  principle 
of  nationality,  which  he  does  not  recognize,  for 
he  regards  the  nations  merely  as  provinces  of  the 
Church.  Hence  he  claims  his  property,  which  he 
received  from  King  Pipin,  and  which  Charle- 
magne confirmed  to  him  by  placing  on  his  tomb 
"  the  charter  of  donation."  Since  that  time  eleven 
centuries  have  passed,  but  eleven  centuries  do  not 
count  in  the  immutability  of  the  Church.  In  the 
course  of  the  ages  the  domain  of  Peter  has  often 
been  assailed,  never,  however,  without  the  assailant 
having  cause  to  repent.  Bourbon,  the  Constable 
of  France,  was  killed  before  Rome's  walls.  No 
one  fell  in  1870  at  the  assault  of  Porta  Pia,  but 
punishment  is  not  always  immediately  inflicted 
on  "  crime."  The  King  of  the  Lombards,  in  the 
eighth  century,  and  Napoleon  I.,  in  the  nineteenth, 
waited  some  years  before  it  was  meted  out  to  them. 

The  Pope,  though  shut  up  in  the  Vatican,  has 
continued  his  broad  survey  of  the  world  ;  in  fact, 
since  the  Middle  Ages,  his  horizon  has  widened. 
Everywhere  on  the  globe  there  are  Catholics  ;  and 
in  several  countries  of  Europe  they  form  a  party, 
which  the  governments,  however  strong  they  may 
be,  are  obliged  to  take  into  account.  The  Emperor 
of  Germany  is  very  potent,  but  when  he  visited 
the  King  of  Italy,  it  was  beyond  his  power  to  re- 
fuse to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Pope.  The  Em- 
peror of  Austria  calls  himself  the  good  brother 


CH.  v.]  Principle  of  Nationality  in  Italy.  153 

and  special  friend  of  Humbert  I.,  but  lie  does  not 
visit  Rome  for  fear  of  committing  sacrilege. 

Nevertheless,  the  Apostle  does  not  cease  to  up- 
braid and  lament.  The  plaintive  cry  of  the  im- 
mortal old  prelate  sounds  like  an  unceasing  knell 
above  Rome,  the  Italian  capital.  It  disturbs  and 
irritates  king  and  ministers.  What  is  the  use  of 
being  in  Rome  only  to  find  one's  self  still  face  to 
face  with  a  Roman  question  ?  From  time  to  time 
people  fear,  or  pretend  to  fear,  that  the  Franks 
may  once  more  descend  from  the  mountains  to 
drive  away  the  Lombards. 

Accordingly  Italy  sought,  where  she  expected 
to  find  it,  an  assurance  against  all  intervention  in 
favor  of  the  Holy  See.  This  precaution  she  had 
the  right  to  take.  But  every  alliance  costs  some- 
thing, and  those  that  Italy  has  contracted  have 
cost  much.  Then,  after  having  been  guided  by 
solicitude  for  her  safety,  it  appears  that  she  was 
misled  by  dreams.  It  is  very  difficult  to  refrain 
from  dreaming  a  little  on  the  top  of  the  Capitol. 
The  conquerors  who  mounted  there  in  triumph 
called  the  Mediterranean  mare  nostrum.  Among 
the  spoils  that  they  presented  to  Jupiter  were,  on 
one  occasion,  those  of  Carthage. 

Thus  to  the  Roman  question  Italy  has  added 
that  of  the  Mediterranean.  Down  to  the  present 
time  questions  of  this  sort  have  not  been  settled 
peacefully. 


154  The  Nineteenth  Century.  ICH.  v. 


§  8.  Application  of  the  Principle  of  Nationality 
to  Germany. 

The  unification  of  Germany  differs  entirely 
from  that  of  Italy.  It  is  not  completed,  for  sev- 
eral million  Germans  were  excluded  from  their 
fatherland  by  the  Treaty  of  Prague,  which  left 
Austria  out  of  the  new  state.  The  new  Germany 
does  not  contain  Germans  only:  in  1866  Prussia 
added  to  it  her  part  of  Poland  and  a  Danish 
country,  and,  in  1870,  certain  French  provinces. 
This  unification,  which  allowed  the  parody  of  a 
confederation  to  subsist,  was  accomplished  by  the 
German  prince  who  had  most  claims  to  the  honor. 
But  the  King  of  Prussia  had  acquired,  during  the 
last  century  and  a  half,  the  rank  and  power  of  a 
European  prince.  He  was  the  successor  of  states- 
men and  conquerors  each  of  whom  had  added  to  the 
domain  of  their  house  a  certain  number  of  square 
miles.  Thus  the  unification  of  Germany  assumed 
the  character  of  a  conquest  by  Prussia.  In  fact, 
it  was  in  virtue  of  the  right  of  conquest,  officially 
appealed  to,  that  Schleswig  -  Holstein,  Hanover, 
Frankfort,  and  Hesse-Cassel  were  united  to  Prus- 
sia. The  constitution  of  1866  was  drawn  up  by  a 
conqueror  for  the  conquered.  It  was  completed 
in  1870 ;  but  the  King  of  Prussia,  who  was  pro- 
claimed Emperor  at  Versailles,  remained  King  of 


CH.  v.]  The  Alsatian  Question.  155 

Prussia.  Prussia,  thus  aggrandized,  presses  with 
all  her  weight  on  Germany,  imposing  upon  the 
whole  Empire  her  peculiar  spirit,  the  spirit  of  a 
military  state. 

Finally,  victorious  Germany  inflicted  a  wound 
upon  France  that  will  never  be  forgotten. 


§  9.  The  Alsatian  Question. 

At  the  conclusion  of  a  history  of  thirty  centuries, 
in  which  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  discriminate 
the  most  important  facts,  one  must  not  be  tempted 
to  exaggerate  or  to  misinterpret  an  event  merely 
because  it  has  wounded  one's  feelings.  Indeed,  the 
injuries  that  have  been  inflicted  upon  Germany  by 
French  politics  in  the  past  are  well  known.  A 
French  historian  must  recognize  that  Germany  had 
an  absolute  right  to  adopt  such  measures  as  were 
best  adapted  to  protect  her  against  the  French. 
But  her  unification  and  vengeance  were  accom- 
plished together  in  such  a  way  that  the  peace  of 
the  world  will  long  be  menaced. 

It  is  difficult  to  make  foreigners  understand 
why  France  cannot  resign  herself  to  the  loss  of  her 
provinces.  "  It  is  the  law  of  war,"  say  the  Ger- 
mans. Such  language  would  not  have  surprised 
anyone  in  the  last  century ;  and  even  to  -  day  it 
seems  natural  to  statesmen  of  the  old  regime. 


156  The  Nineteenth  Century.  [CH.  v. 

But,  in  the  present  century,  France  represents 
another  policy. 

Among  all  the  nations  of  the  world  she  is  pre- 
eminently rationalistic  and  sensitive.  She  thinks 
that  it  is  not  proper  to  treat  an  aggregate  of  men 
like  a  herd  of  cattle.  She  believes  in  the  ex- 
istence of  a  people's  soul.  She  has  manifested 
sorrow  and  sympathy  for  the  sufferings  of  the 
victims  of  force.  She  has  wept  over  Athens,  War- 
saw, and  Venice,  and  has  not  given  the  "op- 
pressed" merely  tears.  If  France  assisted  the 
United  Provinces  to  secure  freedom  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  it  was  only  a  fortunate  result  of 
the  policy  of  her  kings ;  but  when  the  French  shed 
their  blood  to  deliver  the  United  States,  Greece, 
Belgium,  and  Italy,  it  was  an  intentional  result  of 
new  sentiments. 

The  Peace  of  Frankfort  did  not  bequeath  to  the 
French  merely  the  humiliation  of  defeat.  It  did 
not  merely  open  their  frontier,  and  place  their 
country  in  a  condition  of  intolerable  insecurity. 
In  taking  from  them  people  that  were  French,  and 
desired  to  remain  so,  the  conqueror  wounded  the 
French  in  their  convictions.  He  did  not  even  ap- 
peal to  ethnographical  patriotism.  He  could  not 
claim  Alsace  as  German ;  for  he  took  possession  of 
Metz,  and  retained  Schleswig  and  the  Polish  coun- 
tries. He  simply  used  the  old  right  of  force. 
That  is  what  determines  the  character  of  the  Alsa- 


CH.  v.]       Austrian  and  Russian  Wars  of  Conquest.          157 

cian  question.  This  question,  in  fact,  places  face 
to  face  two  stages  of  civilization ;  and  the  French 
in  their  defeat  may  claim,  as  a  singular  honor,  that 
the  redress  of  the  wrong  done  to  them  would  be  a 
satisfaction  to  reason  and  to  the  most  generous  sen- 
timents of  our  time. 

§  10.  Austrian  and  Russian  Wars  of  Conquest. 

Thus  the  introduction  of  the  principle  of  na- 
tionality has  not  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  old 
political  habits.  Even  in  the  nineteenth  century 
there  have  been  wars  of  conquest  and  attempts  at 
territorial  aggrandizement. 

Austria  and  Russia,  like  Prussia,  are  conquerors. 
Austria  is  descending  the  Danube,  and  is  moving 
toward  Adrianople.  It  is  the  direction  that  was 
pointed  out  to  her,  more  than  a  thousand  years 
ago,  by  the  founder  of  the  "  Eastern  March." 
The  Hapsburgs  forgot  this  early  mission  as  soon 
as  their  matrimonial  politics  entangled  them  in 
all  the  affairs  of  Western  Europe.  Italy  and 
Germany  have  reminded  Austria  of  it,  the  one 
by  forcing  her  beyond  the  Alps,  the  other  by  de- 
priving her  of  the  quality  of  a  German  state. 
Austria  is  to-day  pre-eminently  a  Danubian  state. 
She  has  taken  possession  of  Bosnia  and  Herzego- 
vina. She  is  striving  to  extend  her  political  au- 
thority or  "influence"  over  the  petty  Balkan 


158  The  Nineteenth  Century.  [CH.V. 

states.     But  this  plan  is  opposed  by  a  powerful 
adversary. 

Russia,  in  the  present  century,  has  made  prog- 
ress at  the  expense  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  She 
employs  force  and  sentiment  simultaneously 
against  this  state.  It  was  from  Constantinople 
that  she  originally  received  Christianity;  hence  it 
is  incumbent  upon  her  to  take  from  Islam  the  dome 
of  St.  Sophia.  She  is  also  the  big  Slavic  brother, 
who  must  help  her  smaller  brothers,  the  subjects 
of  the  Sultan.  Thus  religion  and  ethnographical 
patriotism  mingle  with  politics,  and  give  Russia 
a  power  of  action  at  present  unequalled  in  the 
world.  But  this  power  is  restrained  by  rivals  : 
the  route  from  St.  Petersburg  toward  the  South 
is  crossed  by  the  route  from  Vienna  toward  the 
East.  Finally,  the  question  of  the  Dardanelles 
is  of  European  and  even  universal  interest.  It 
concerns  the  balance  of  power  between  the  two 
greatest  dominions  in  the  world,  that  of  England 
and  that  of  Russia. 

§  11.  Expansion  of  Europe. 

In  recent  times  Europe  has  continued  to  extend 
her  sway  over  the  world.  At  the  present  day 
she  is  completing  this  process.  There  is  nothing 
more  for  her  to  eeize  in  America ;  but  she  has 
thrown  herself  upon  the  Dark  Continent  and  Asia. 


CH.  v.j  Expansion  of  Europe.  159 

In  Africa,  the  new  powers,  Germany  and  Italy, 
seek  that  position  outside  of  Europe  which  seems 
to  be  the  natural  complement  of  every  power  of 
any  importance.  A  state  is  not  considered  great 
if  the  statesmen  and  newspapers  cannot  speak  of 
"  our  colonial  empire."  In  Africa,  the  old  powers, 
England  and  France,  are  expanding  most  rapidly, 
the  latter  toward  the  north  and  west,  the  former 
toward  the  south  and  east.  In  Asia,  France  has 
appropriated  her  share.  At  present,  however,  Asia 
is  mainly  Chinese,  English,  and  Russian.  There 
the  Russian  glacier  is  always  gliding  onward. 

Since  1815  the  distant  seas  and  continents  have 
not  heard  the  cannonade  of  Europeans  against 
Europeans.  At  present  the  occupation  of  the 
world  is,  as  it  seems,  being  peacefully  completed. 
Diplomatic  commissions  proceed  amicably  with 
their  demarcations.  They  trace  grand  lines  on  the 
docile  paper.  In  fact,  an  innovation  in  the  form 
of  an  international  state  has  been  established. 
By  common  consent,  Christians  have  entered  into 
an  alliance  against  the  slave-dealer,  just  as  they 
formerly  did  against  the  infidel.  All  proceeds 
peacefully,  all  for  civilization.  Some  years  ago, 
however,  the  world  almost  witnessed  a  duel  be- 
tween "the  whale  and  the  white  bear,"  because  the 
progress  of  Russia  toward  the  Indian  frontier  dis- 
turbed England.  The  occupation  of  some  unim- 
portant islets  almost  caused  a  conflict  between 


160  Tbe  Nineteenth  Century.  tCH.v. 

Germany  and  Spain.  There  is  friction,  even  at 
the  present  day,  between  England  and  Portugal 
on  account  of  a  bay  in  East  Africa.  What  will 
happen  when  all  the  attainable  territory  is  oc- 
cupied and  the  states  are  neighbors  in  the  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  world,  it  is  not  difficult  to  con- 
jecture, when  one  considers  what  for  centuries 
have  been  their  relations  as  neighbors  on  the 
Continent. 

Here,  as  everywhere,  there  are  indications  of 
war.  Has  our  century  then  failed  to  keep  the 
promises  which  it  seems  to  have  made  ?  Just  what 
has  been  its  work  compared  with  that  of  pre- 
ceding centuries  ?  What  tasks  does  it  bequeath 
to  the  future  ?  We  shall  attempt,  by  way  of  con- 
clusion, to  answer  these  questions. 


§12.  Past  and  Present  Politics. 

Several  traits  of  earlier  politics  have  been 
effaced  or  weakened  in  the  present  century. 

Royal  families  still  enter  into  marriage  alli- 
ances, but  the  political  effects  are  unimportant. 
Denmark  and  Germany  excel  in  disposing  of  their 
princesses ;  but  it  was  of  no  service  to  Denmark, 
in  1864,  that  the  crown-princes  of  England  and 
Russia  were  the  sons-in-law  of  the  Danish  King. 
Greece  will  not  become  the  vassal  of  the  German 


CH.  v.i  Past  and  Present  Politics.  161 

Empire  because  her  heir-apparent  has  married  the 
sister  of  William  II. 

Several  countries  have  summoned  foreigners  to 
rule  over  them;  but  these  princes,  begotten  by 
fertile  Germany,  must  be  Belgian  in  Brussels, 
Roumanian  in  Bucharest,  and  Bulgarian  in  So- 
phia. 

Thus  the  importance  of  royal  families  and  kings 
has  diminished,  and  the  nations  have  come  to  the 
foreground. 

Religious  affinities  and  aversions  still  deter- 
mine certain  currents  in  politics.  There  exists  an 
international  papal  question,  The  Eastern  Ques- 
tion is  complicated  by  strong  religious  passions. 
Nevertheless,  religion  has  lost  the  international 
position  that  it  occupied  in  the  sixteenth  and  sev- 
enteenth centuries. 

The  ambition  of  territorial  aggrandizement  is 
tempered  by  a  certain  modesty.  At  the  present 
day  no  sovereign  would  dare  to  undertake  an- 
nexations on  pretexts  such  as  Louis  XIV.  gave  be- 
fore attacking  Spain,  in  1667,  or  Frederick  II.,  in 
1740,  after  invading  Silesia.  If  Poland's  exist- 
ence, miserable  as  it  was,  had  been  prolonged  a 
few  decades,  her  destruction  would,  perhaps,  have 
been  impossible. 

War  is  no  longer,  as  in  the  preceding  period, 
the  normal  condition  of  Europe ;  years  of  peace 
are  no  longer  the  exception.  Very  serious  motives 
ll 


162  The  Nineteenth  Century.  ten.  v. 

are  now  necessary  for  a  declaration  of  war.  The 
combats  of  our  century  have  been  wortli  the 
trouble  of  fighting.  But  this  is  not  a  reason  for 
believing  that  the  time  is  approaching  when  every 
nation  will  be  able  to  repose  under  its  own  vine 
and  fig-tree,  unarmed  and  free  from  care. 


§  13.    Causes  of  Peace. 

Let  us  place  in  one  of  the  scales  of  a  balance 
the  causes  of  peace. 

First,  there  is  the  spirit  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution. By  destroying  the  property  right  of  the 
sovereign  over  the  people  and  over  the  country, 
by  creating  the  theory  of  the  nation  based  upon 
national  consent,  and  by  proclaiming  the  dignity  of 
human  beings,  the  Revolution  has  rendered  diffi- 
cult certain  kinds  of  war. 

Then,  there  is  the  universal  progress  of  labor ; 
the  heat  of  the  forge,  and  the  feverish  enterprise 
of  the  counting-room ;  the  circulation  of  persons, 
ideas,  and  interests  between  different  countries; 
a  general  solidarity  in  the  effort  to  acquire  wealth ; 
and  unanimity  in  the  desire  to  enjoy  one's  posses- 
sions in  peace. 

Finally,  there  is  a  feeling  opposed  to  war,  with 
which  are  blended  a  certain  new  ideal  of  engineers 
and  inventors,  fear  of  the  inconveniences  and  dan- 


CH.V.]  Causes  of  War.  163 

gers  of  military  life,  survivals  of  old  and  noble 
Christian  or  philosophic  ideas,  and  sentiments  of 
humanity. 

§  14.  Causes  of  War. 

Let  us  now  place  in  the  other  scale  the  causes 
of  war. 

Here,  too,  we  find  the  spirit  of  the  Revolution. 
The  principle  of  nationality  will  not  be  satisfied 
until  it  conquers  England,  Germany,  and  Russia, 
and  destroys  Austria  and  Turkey.  It  will  not 
accomplish  all  these  objects,  but  it  will  seek  to  at- 
tain some  of  them.  Supposing  that  it  destroys 
Austria  and  Turkey,  what  battle-fields  will  arise 
on  their  ruins  ! 

Among  the  causes  of  war  we  find  also  the  uni- 
versal progress  of  labor,  and  competition  in  the 
pursuit  of  wealth.  It  is  not  true  that  the  develop- 
ment of  material  interests  promotes  peace.  Com-  \ 
inerce,  as  the  messenger  of  peace,  is  a  mythologi- 
cal character.  In  its  origin  it  was  brigandage; 
in  ancient,  mediaeval,  and  modern  times  it  oc- 
casioned wars.  Men  fought  on  the  Baltic  for 
herring,  and  on  all  the  seas  for  spices.  In  our  day 
the  growth  of  industries  creates  the  question  of 
foreign  markets,  which,  in  turn,  brings  the  inter- 
ests of  the  states  into  conflict.  Commercial  rivalry 
and  rancor  thus  strengthen  national  hatred. 


164  The  Nineteenth  Century.  CCH.V. 

Pacific  ideas  and  sentiments  are  uncertain  and 
frail.  Engineers  and  inventors  do  not  refuse  their 
services  in  behalf  of  war ;  in  fact,  they  give  it  a 
new,  scientific,  and  monstrous  character.  True 
there  exist  disdain  and  horror  of  the  military 
system  and  the  barracks  ;  but  war  has  retained  its 
devotees,  and  general  opinion  still  tends  to  place 
in  the  first  rank  the  duty  which  exposes  a  person 
to  the  danger  of  death. 

Finally,  the  old  features  of  union  between  coun- 
tries are  being  daily  effaced. 


§  15.  National  Individualism. 

The  immense  development  of  commercial  inter- 
course, the  hundred-fold  increase  of  ways  and 
means  of  communication,  the  medley  of  financial 
interests  in  the  exchanges  of  Paris,  London,  and 
Berlin,  constitute  one  of  the  phenomena  of  our 
time ;  but  national  individualism  is  another,  of  an 
entirely  opposite  nature.  Nations  have  become 
more  estranged  from  one  another,  in  proportion 
to  the  growth  of  international  interests. 

The  Christian  spirit  formerly  attempted  to  dis- 
cipline men  by  the  sentiment  of  their  brotherhood 
in  God ;  but  of  this  spirit  the  politics  of  to-day  do 
not  feel  the  least  breath.  The  philosophy  of  the 
last  century  brought  into  fashion  the  sentiment  of 


CH.  v.]  National  Individualism.  165 

brotherhood  in  humanity ;  to-day  the  most  wide- 
spread of  the  systems  of  philosophy,  that  which 
has  permeated  the  sciences,  teaches  the  necessity 
of  the  conflict  for  existence  and  the  legitimacy  of 
the  selection  made  by  the  work  of  death. 

Formerly  certain  literatures  were  dominant  in 
Europe.  That  of  France  was  almost  universal, 
and  is  still  at  present,  perhaps,  the  most  wide- 
spread. It  furnishes  the  theatres  of  European 
capitals  with  dramas  and  comedies.  But  French 
dramatic  art,  though  it  has  power,  subtlety,  and 
grace,  is  less  impersonal  than  formerly  :  it  is  more 
varied,  more  French,  more  Parisian.  There  is  also 
a  great  circulation  of  novels  throughout  the  world ; 
but  the  novel  renounces  general  themes,  preferring 
to  observe  the  immediate  and  the  real.  We  de- 
light in  finding  in  foreign  writers  manners  differ- 
ent from  our  own.  Such  differences  are  what  al- 
ways and  everywhere  appear  in  their  works. 

Formerly  the  ancient  classics  were,  in  all  coun- 
tries, the  principal  means  of  education.  The 
humanities  were,  of  course,  international ;  in  fact, 
all  men  of  any  importance  in  politics  and  society 
had  been  the  pupils  of  the  same  masters.  At  the 
present  day  we  deny  to  the  humanities  not  merely 
the  exclusive,  but  any,  right  in  education.  Here 
also  the  modern  spirit  undertakes  the  destruction 
of  the  general  and  universal,  and  hence  is  separ- 
atistic. 


166  The  Nineteenth  Century.  [CH.V. 

The  long  evolution  begun  with  the  ruin  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  hindered  and  sometimes  arrested 
by  sentiments,  ideas,  and  customs,  is  in  our  day 
being  completed;  national  individualism  is  now 
an  accomplished  fact. 

In  the  last  few  centuries  there  was  spread  over 
the  surface  of  Europe  a  veneer  of  common  forms  of 
government  and  court  life,  which  gave  an  appear- 
ance of  similarity.  Revolutions  have  cracked  this 
veneer,  and  the  substitution  of  nationalities  for 
governments  has  dissipated  the  illusion  of  resem- 
blance. Europe  now  appears  as  she  really  is,  with 
her  irreconcilable  contrasts,  national,  ethnologi- 
cal, and  chronological.  We  see  this  to-day  very 
clearly.  From  Paris,  where  the  government  of 
the  French  Republic  sits,  to  Berlin,  where  the 
hereditary  general-in -chief  of  the  Prussian  army 
rules,  and  from  Berlin  to  the  Kremlin,  where  the 
father  of  Holy  Russia  is  crowned,  the  distance  is 
measured,  not  merely  by  kilometers,  a  negligible 
quantity,  but  also  by  centuries. 

Where  individualism  is  of  ethnographical  sub- 
stance it  displays  its  irreconcilable  spirit  in  a  na- 
ive way.  Hungary  is  thrown  into  a  violent  pas- 
sion because  a  flag  is  placed  where  it  has  no  right 
to  be.  Nowhere  is  the  Tsech  willing  to  hear 
the  German  language,  neither  in  the  school,  nor 
in  the  church,  nor  in  the  court  of  law.  To  be  ab- 
sorbed in  one's  self,  to  contemplate  and  love  one's 


CH.  v.]  Conclusion.  167 

self,  and,  when  one  is  proud  of  one's  birth,  to  ad- 
mire one's  self  —  that  is  the  psychological  condi- 
tion of  a  modern  people. 


§  16.   Conclusion. 

Thus  even  the  innovations  of  this  century,  the 
spirit  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  progress  of  hu- 
man labor  weigh  in  both  scales  of  the  balance. 
Moreover,  from  the  past  there  has  been  transmitted 
the  old  cause  of  war,  the  policy  of  aggrandizement 
and  conquest.  This  policy  is  very  clear  and  deter- 
minate ;  it  is  carried  on  in  places  that  are  well  de- 
fined and  visible.  The  Balkans  and  the  spire  of 
Strasburg  dominate  the  politics  of  Europe  at  the  \ 
present  day. 

This  is  the  reason  why  the  expectation  of  war  is 
one  of  the  principal  phenomena  of  our  present  civil- 
ization. It'manifests  itself  in  the  system  of  armed 
peace.  Formerly  peace  wore  only  demi-armor ;  to- 
day it  is  armed  from  head  to  foot.  Without  any 
effort,  by  a  tap  of  the  telegraph,  after  some  puffs 
of  locomotives,  there  is  war  ;  and  what  a  terrible 
war  !  Just  as  the  politics  of  former  centuries  ap- 
pear to  be  almost  trivial  compared  with  those  of  to- 
day, so  the  armies  of  Turenne  and  Conde,  compared 
with  ours,  seem  to  be  mere  playthings.  It  was 
observed  a  moment  ago  that  wars  are  becoming 


168  The  Nineteenth  Century.  [CH.V. 

rarer;  but  they  employ  their  time  to  better  ad- 
vantage. Formerly  years  of  fighting  were  neces- 
sary for  the  capture  of  a  few  cities.  France 
needed  only  six  weeks,  and  Prussia  three,  to 
precipitate  the  Italian  and  German  revolutions. 
The  French  pride  themselves  on  having  held  out 
six  months  against  Germany  to  save  their  honor. 
The  feeling,  that  a  few  dawns  may  suffice  to  il- 
lumine the  desperate  conflict  and  the  death  of  a 
fatherland,  weighs  heavily  upon  Europe.  There 
are  countries  in  which  the  cruel  cry  vce  metis  is 
ready  to  burst  forth  from  men's  breasts. 

In  truth,  it  is  not  wholly  impossible  that  the  ap- 
prehension of  war  retards  war.  No  one  is  sure  of 
winning,  and  everyone  knows  that  defeat  may 
be  fatal.  This  is  what  makes  the  hand  hesitate 
that  is  able  to  give  the  tap  on  the  telegraph.  It  is 
possible  that  armed  peace,  by  being  prolonged, 
may  appear  at  once  too  burdensome  and  too  ab- 
surd, and  that  reason  and  humanity  may  assert 
their  right.  Perhaps,  too,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
heed  the  complaints  of  "the  disinherited"  and  to 
reduce  the  budgets  of  war,  in  order  to  give  the 
miners  of  Flanders,  Westphalia,  and  Silesia  a  lit- 
tle more  time  at  table  and  two  additional  hours  of 
sleep.  But  these  are  very  vague  hopes. 

Moreover,  it  is  a  question  whether  universal 
peace  is  a  desirable  object,  whether  it  would  not 
diminish  the  original  energy  of  national  genius, 


CH.  v.]  Conclusion.  169 

whether  the  best  way  to  serve  humanity  would  be 
to  create  humau  banality,  whether  new  virtues 
would  arise  to  replace  the  virtues  of  war.  It  is 
also  a  question  whether  universal  and  perpetual 
peace  is  not  radically  and  natwrally  impossible. 
These  are  profound  problems,  solvable  only  by 
him  who  may  know  the  beginning  and  end  of 
things,  and  hence  insolvable.  Let  us  then  leave 
this  painful  metaphysical  aspect  of  the  subject 
and  resolutely  consider  the  possibilities  of  the 
future. 

At  the  close  of  the  last  century  we  distin- 
guished three  regions  of  Europe — the  Centre  and 
West,  England,  and  Russia — to  show  that  per- 
petual wars  between  the  states  of  the  first  region 
had  made  the  fortune  of  the  other  two.  England, 
in  recent  times,  has  considerably  extended  her  co- 
lonial territory ;  she  is  adding  to  it  daily,  and  at 
the  present  moment  she  talks  of  organizing  it  into 
an  empire.  Russia,  at  the  same  time  that  she  in- 
creases her  territory,  is  gaining  strength.  Every 
year  she  makes  more  progress.  Her  wheat-fields 
and  vines  multiply  the  supply  of  grain  and  grapes ; 
the  fertility  of  her  inhabitants  equals  that  of  the 
soil ;  new  industries  are  being  introduced,  and 
prosper ;  the  credit  of  the  state  is  being  strength- 
ened. All  this  is  done  methodically  and  noise- 
lessly, with  the  tranquillity  that  characterizes  work 
performed  by  the  calm  forces  of  nature.  More- 


170  The  'Nineteenth  Century.  [CH.V. 

over,  there  is  no  discord  on  the  Continent  that  does 
not  serve  England  and  Russia.  The  Franco-Ger- 
man conflict  and  the  misunderstandings  between 
Prance  and  Italy  assure  to  England  the  security  of 
her  domination.  The  Alsacian  question  is  worth 
to  Russia  the  doubling  of  her  army.  Thus  the  cen- 
tral powers  contribute  to  the  development  of  the 
two  wings  of  Europe.  The  constant  progress  of 
her  neighbors  in  the  East  ought,  at  least,  to  make 
Germany  reflect.  If  she  still  has  political  philos- 
ophers, they  have  an  excellent  subject  for  study 
in  "  the  future  of  Russia."  The  phenomenon  of  a 
great  nation,  in  which  wealth  and  modern  forces 
are  increasing,  while  its  spirit  remains  that  of  the 
West  at  the  time  of  the  Crusades,  merits  their 
meditation. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  position  of  Europe  in 
the  universe.  A  century  ago  she  was  the  only 
historical  entity ;  to-day  there  is  a  second.  The 
most  important  results  of  the  discoveries  of  the 
fifteenth  century  are  now  beginning  to  appear. 
America  is  no  longer  a  dependency  of  the  old 
world.  A  series  of  revolutions  has  transformed 
the  colonies  into  independent  states.  Like  Europe, 
America  is  filled  with  nations.  We  say  "  Europe  " 
to  designate  a  sort  of  political  community ;  the 
Americans  say  "  America  "  with  the  same  inten- 
tion. America  is  conscious  of  the  contrast  that  she 
forms  with  political  and  military  Europe,  and  she 


CH.  v.j  Conclusion.  171 

is  proud  of  it.  This  very  contrast  gives  her  a  sort 
of  unity.  It  permits  bold  spirits  to  speak  of  Pan- 
Americanism. 

The  relations  between  the  Old  World  and  the 
New  are  not  necessarily  peaceful.  Down  to  the 
present,  the  latter  has  had  no  foreign  policy  ;  still 
the  Monroe  Doctrine,  "  America  for  the  Ameri- 
cans," is  a  policy.  If  it  is  ever  applied  to  the  isl- 
ands of  America  (premonitory  signs  of  this  are  not 
wanting),  it  will  cause  a  conflict  between  the  two 
worlds. 

American  civilization  is  pacific.  All  these  new 
nations  grow  and  multiply  in  the  midst  of  peace. 
Peace  is  thus  their  vocation,  but,  as  if  it  were  con- 
trary to  the  eternal  order  of  things,  the  United 
States  are  beginning  to  use  their  treasury  sur- 
plus for  the  construction  of  war  vessels.  Arma- 
ments are  ruining  Europe,  while  American  wealth 
is  producing  armaments. 

It  is  not  necessary,  in  concluding,  to  seek  the 
facile  originality  of  a  paradox.  After  having  de- 
scended the  course  of  time,  one  naturally  desires 
to  presage  the  future.  After  having  started  so 
far  back  in  the  past,  it  is  impossible  to  stop  short 
on  the  threshold  of  the  future.  After  having  seen 
so  many  changes,  states  come  into  existence  and 
perish,  empires  crumble  that  had  hoped  for  eternal 
life,  we  must  foresee  new  revolutions,  deaths,  and 
births. 


172  The  Nineteenth  Century.  CCH.V. 

All  force  exhausts  itself;  the  faculty  of  guid- 
ing the  course  of  history  is  not  an  inalienable  pos- 
session. Europe,  which  inherited  it  from  Asia 
three  thousand  years  ago,  will  not,  perhaps,  retain 
it  forever. 


INDEX. 


ACHAIA,  35,  36 

Adrianople,  157 

Adriatic,  declines  in  importance, 
89 

Africa,  conquered  by  Justinian, 
14;  Arabs  in,  14,  36;  role  of 
France  in,  105,  159  ;  European 
colonial  policy  in,  158-160 

Agilofings,  22 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  56,  76,  77 

Albanians,  37 

Alberoni,  84 

Albigenses,  28,  60,  65,  66 

Alemannia,  20 

Alsace,  without  a  ruler,  67 ; 
acquired  by  France,  96,  97 

Alsacian  Question,  148, 154-157, 
170 

Ambassadors,  Italy  the  birth- 
place of,  82 

America,  discovery  of,  80,  83, 
88,  170 ;  wars  of  England  con- 
cerning, 94 ;  role  of  France 
in,  105  ;  Spanish  conquests  in, 
107  ;  English  colonies  in,  112, 
113 ;  relations  of  Europe  to, 
158,  170,  171 

Amiens,  60 

Anarchy,  in  mediseval  Germany, 
40,  43,  45,  87,  150 

Angevins,  of  France,  42 ;  of 
Naples,  90 

Anglo-Saxons,  conversion  of,  21, 
72 ;  invade  England,  71 


Anjou,  acquired  by  France,  60 

Antonines,  13 

Aquitaine,  20,  29 

Arabs,  their  place  in  history,  11 ; 
their  conquests,  14 ;  their  em- 
pires, 25,  36 ;  in  Spain,  26, 
69-71,  76,  107;  in  Portugal 
and  Italy,  61 

Aragon,  63,  70,  71,  74 

Archipelago,  the,  44 

Ardennes,  40 

Argovia,  40 

Aristotle,  mediaeval  interpreta- 
tion of,  61 

Aries,  65,  66 

Armies,  mercenaries  in,  84 ;  of 
the  present,  167,  171 

Art,  Gothic,  61,  136  ;  mediaeval 
and  modern,  135 ;  dramatic,  in 
France,  165 

Artois,  68,  96,  97 

Asia,  under  Ottoman  rule,  36; 
relations  of  Europe  to,  37,  80, 
122,  158,  159,  172;  role  of 
France  in,  105,  113,  159 ;  con- 
quests of  Russia  in,  125,  126, 
159 

Astrakhan,  khanate  of,  125 

Athens,  principality  of,  35,  36, 
61  ;  under  the  Turks,  76,  156 

Austerlitz,  battle  of,  138 

Austrasia,  20,  22,  23,  29 

Austria,  Tsech  question  in,  48, 
52, 121, 166 ;  mediaeval  history 


174 


Index. 


of,  54,  55,  92-95 ;  origin  of, 
54  ;  acquires  Netherlands,  69  ; 
the  enemy  of  Spain  and 
France,  82 ;  Protestants  em- 
ployed against,  82,  93 ;  em- 
pire of,  83 ;  relations  of  Italy 
to,  90,  92 ;  her  rivalry  and 
conflicts  with  Prussia,  95,  117, 
121 ;  her  conflicts  with  France, 
104-106 ;  her  alliance  with 
Castile,  107;  prosperity  of, 
113;  wages  war  in  Prussia, 
114 ;  modern  history  of,  118- 
122  ;  domain  of,  118 ;  chief 
factors  in  her  destiny,  119 ; 
union  with  Spain  and  Bur- 
gundy, 119  ;  relations  of  Hun- 
gary to,  119-122,  145,  149; 
compared  with  Prussia,  120, 
121 ;  separated  from  Spain, 
130 ;  progress  of,  133 ;  in 
1815,  140,  145 ;  dependencies 
of,  145,  146,  149;  relations  of 
Germany  to,  146,  154 ;  prin- 
ciple of  nationality  in,  149, 
163 ;  relations  of  Papacy  to, 
152,  153;  her  wars  of  con- 
quest, 157,  158 
Avars,  11,  12,  26,  46,  54,  120 

BAGDAD,  26 

Balance  of  power,  doctrine  of, 
86,  158 

Balkan  Peninsula,  under  the 
Eastern  Empire,  14,  76 ;  States 
of,  33-36,  158;  nationalities 
of,  145,  149  ;  position  of,  in 
European  politics,  167 

Baltic,  decline  of  its  impor- 
tance, 88,  89 

Barbarians,  in  Western  and 
Eastern  Europe,  11-18 ;  their 
respect  for  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, 16 

Basques,  105,  148 


Battle-fields  of  Europe,  43,  89, 
106 

Bavaria,  20,  22,  29,  51,  121 

Beam,  103 

Belgium,  under  the  Hapsburgs, 
99, 100 ;  separated  from  Spain, 
108 ;  united  to  Holland,  140, 
145 ;  separated  from  Holland, 
145;  principle  of  nationality 
in,  146;  assisted  by  France, 
156.  See  Flanders;  Nether- 
lands 

Berlin,  115,  164,  166 

|  Bohemia,  inhabited  by  Slavs, 
46  ;  relations  of  Germany  and 
the  Empire  to,  48,  49, 122 ;  her 
people  converted,  48,  51, 123 ; 
relations  of  Austria  to,  54,  55, 

119,  121,  131,  145 ;  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  77 ;  in  mod- 
ern times,  128.     See  Tsechs 

Bordeaux,  105 

Bosnia,  157 

Bourbon,  Constable  of  France, 
152 

Bourbons,  their  conflicts  with 
the  Hapsburgs,  90-94,  97, 
105 

Brabant,  68 

Brandenburg,  acquired  by  the 
Hohenzollerns,  55 ;  progress 
of,  55,  123 ;  relations  of  Teu- 
tonic Knights  to,  55,  56 ; 
union  of,  with  Prussia,  56 ; 
modern  history  of,  114-118, 

120.  See  Prussia 
j  Brannybor,  120 

I  Bremen,  88 

•  Bresse,  91 

1  Bretons,  105,  148 

Britain.     See  England 

British  Isles,  divisions  of,  72 
I  Brittany,  103 

Brussels,  161 

Bucharest,  161 


Index. 


175 


Bugey,  91 

Bulgaria,  35,  146 

Bulgarians,  15,  36,  37 

Burgundians,  invade  the  Koman 
Empire,  13,  16,  18,  19 

Burgundy,  relations  of  Franks 
to,  20,  22;  a  country  of  the 
Empire,  57,  98  ;  disintegration 
of  the  kingdom  of,  65,  66 ; 
duchy  of,  67,  68  ;  claimed  by 
Charles  V.,  96  ;  union  of,  with 
Austria  and  Spain,  119 

Byzantine  Empire.  See  Em- 
pire of  the  East 

C.2ESAB,  JULIUS,  7 

Caliphates,  of  Cordova  and  Bag- 
dad, 25,  26 

Canada,  acquired  by  England, 
113 

Capetians,  39,  58,  59,  63,  65-67. 
See  France 

Capitals  of  Europe  in  the  ninth 
century,  76 

Capitol,  at  Borne,  153 

Carelia,  50,  126 

Carinthia,  54, 118 

Carloman,  son  of  Charles  Mar- 
tel,  23 

Carolingians,  22-30,  76,  126,  138 

Carthage,  153 

Castile,  71,  107 

Castles,  61,  134,  135 

Cathedrals,  61,  136 

Catholicism,  after  the  Beforma- 
tion,  81,  82;  during  Thirty 
Years'  War,  93 ;  in  Spain,  99, 
112 ;  in  Germany,  117 ;  in 
Austria,  119 ;  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  152 

Champagne,  acquired  by  France, 
60 

Charlemagne,  restores  the  Bo- 
man  Empire,  12,  24,  25-29 ; 
his  alliance  with  the  Papacy, 


23,  24;  his  headship  of  the 
world,  25 ;  extent  of  his  em- 
pire, 26;  his  conquests,  26; 
establishes  marches,  26,  54 ; 
supersedes  Italian  King,  41 ; 
helps  found  the  papal  State, 
41,  139,  152;  pagans  in  his 
time,  46,  53 

Charles  I.,  of  England,  110 

Charles  II.,  of  England,  110 

Charles  V.,  Emperor,  83,  95-98, 
119 

Charles  XII.,  of  Sweden,  132 

Charles  the  Bald,  38 

Charles  the  Bold,  68  ;  daughter 
of,  84,  98,  129 

Charles  Martel,  23 
j  China,  159 
1  Chivalry,  28 

Christianity,  under  the  Boman 
Empire,  9,  10,  16-18  ;  among 
Germanic  invaders,  16-19 ; 
maintains  idea  of  political 
unity,  20,  32;  Scandinavians 
and  Anglo-Saxons  converted 
to,  21,  47,  51,  72  ;  its  frontier 
in  Carolingian  times,  45 ;  in- 
fluence of  conversion  to,  upon 
States  of  Europe,  48,  51 ;  in- 
troduced into  Bussia,  123, 
158  ;  represented  in  the  East 
by  Bussia,  125 ;  an  interna- 
tional element,  142,  161,  164. 
See  Church ;  Papacy 

Church,  under  Charlemagne,  24  ; 
in  mediaeval  France,  59 ;  its 
warfare  against  Albigenses, 
60  ;  its  origin  in  England,  72  ; 
its  reform  influences  the  State, 
81 ;  its  sway  in  Spain,  108  ;  in 
Bussia,  123,  128 ;  its  connec- 
tion with  mediaeval  philoso- 
phy, literature,  and  science, 
135 ;  nations  as  provinces  of, 
152.  See  Christianity  ;  Papacy 


176 


Index. 


Cities,  of  Greece,  3,  5  ;  of  Gaul, 
6 ;  of  the  German  Empire,  40, 
50,  88,  94;  of  Italy,  44;  of 
France,  59,  64,  68 ;  of  the 
Lorraine  region,  67 ;  of  Eng- 
land, 75  ;  of  Flanders,  96  ;  of 
Russia,  123 

Civilization,  of  Greece,  2 ;  By- 
zantine, 4;  of  mediaeval 
France,  61,  62  ;  of  Europe  in 
the  fifteenth  century,  78 ;  of 
modern  Russia,  126-128  ;  two 
stages  of,  157 

Classics,  ancient,  165 

Clergy,  assist  in  German  colo- 
nization, 52  ;  in  Russia,  128 

Clovis,  14,  19 

Colbert,  103,  105 

Colonization,  Greek,  3,  5 ;  Ger- 
man, of  Baltic  shore,  etc.,  45- 
53,  88,  131  ;  in  America,  Af- 
rica, and  Asia,  80,  159 ;  Dutch, 
100 ;  capacity  of  France  for, 
105  ;  Spanish,  107-109  ;  Eng- 
lish, 112,  113,  131,  159,  169 ; 
Scandinavian,  131 

Columbus,  Christopher,  89 

Commerce,  of  England,  75, 
113 ;  transformed  by  politi- 
cal centralization,  80 ;  of  the 
Netherlands,  100 ;  an  element 
of  war,  163 

Commercial  policy,  136 

Conde,  167 

Congo  State,  159 

Constantine  the  Great,  founds 
Constantinople,  4,  8 

Constantinople,  12,  13,  21,  25, 
34,  35,  61,  76,  123,  158 ;  foun- 
dation of,  4,  8 ;  taken  by 
Turks,  33,  36 

Cordova,  25 

Coronation,  of  the  Roman  Empe- 
ror, 39  ;  of  the  King  of  France, 
59 


1  Corporations,  80,  135 

Corsica,  44 

Cossacks,  of  the  Don,  125 

Crete,  35 

j  Crimea,  khans  of,  125 ;  con- 
quered by  Russia,  126 

Croatia,  15,  149 

Cromwell,  110 

Crusades,  28,  31-33,  35-37,  60- 
62,  65,  66,  69,  70,  88,  105,  170 

Cyprus,  61 

DALMATIA,  15 

Dantzig,  53 

Danube,  the  frontier  of  history, 
123 

Dardanelles,  158 

Dauphine,  acquired  by  France, 
65 

Denmark,  her  relations  to  the 
German  Empire,  47,  94 ;  ac- 
quires Esthonia,  50 ;  accepts 
Christianity,  51 ;  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  77 ;  her  ar- 
mies in  Germany,  93 ;  Schles- 
wig  -  Holstein  question  in, 
145,  154,  160 ;  matrimonial 
alliances  of,  160.  See  Scan- 
dinavia 

Diet,  of  Germany,  94,  141 

Diplomacy,  modern,  84 

Discovery  of  America,  its  influ- 
ence upon  Europe,  80,  83 ; 
upon  the  Hanse,  88 ;  its  re- 
sults, 170 

Drama,  in  France,  165 

EASTERN  EMPIRE.      See  Empire 

of  the  East 
Eastern  March.      See  March  of 

Austria 

Eastern  Question,  15,  37,  161 
Edward  III.,  of  England,  63 
Elbe,  the,  a  frontier  of  history, 

123 


Index. 


177 


Electors,  imperial,  92 

Elizabeth,  Farnese,  90 

Emperor,  Boman.  See  Bomau 
Emperor 

Empire  of  the  East,  early  his- 
tory of,  7,  8,  12-15  ;  its  rela- 
tions to  Western  barbarians, 
13,  14,  16 ;  conquers  Italy, 
etc. ,  11 ;  loses  Italy,  14  ;  in- 
vaded by  barbarians,  14,  15  ; 
its  relations  to  Italy  and  to  the 
Western  Empire,  21,  25;  its 
mediaeval  history,  30,  33-37; 
compared  with  the  Western 
Empire,  34 ;  its  three  enemies, 
34 ;  its  relations  to  the  Balkan 
Peninsula,  34,  35  ;  and  to  the 
Crusades,  35, 36  ;  conquered  by 
the  Ottomans,  35-37,  76,  125  ; 
its  possessions  in  Italy,  41,  61 ; 
Venice's  conquests  from,  44  ; 
defends  its  life,  46  ;  its  rela- 
tions to  Bussia,  123 

Empire  of  the  West.  See  Boman 
Empire 

Engineers,  new  ideal  of,  162, 
164 

England,  under  Boman  domin- 
ion,  5,  13;   missionaries  sent 
to,  21,  27 ;  sends  missionaries 
to  Germany,  21 ;  in  the  ninth 
century,  25,  76  ;  her  relations 
to  mediaeval  France,   63,  72,  j 
75 ;  in  Hundred  Years'  War,  ' 
63,  64,  72  ;  Norman  Conquest  j 
of,  66,  72  ;  her  mediaeval  his- ! 
tory,  71-75 ;  invasions  of,  71 ; 
origin  of  Church  in,  72 ;  ex- 
tent of,  72 ;   her  government 
under  Norman  kings,  72,  73  ; 
strength    of    crown   in,    73 ; 
weakness  of  nobles  in,  73,  74  ; 
political  liberty  in,  74,  109-  ; 
111 ;    no  castes  in,  74 ;  com- 
merce and  industries  of,  75,  i 

13 


113 ;  relations  to  Flanders,  75  ; 
in  ninth  and  fifteenth  centu- 
ries, 76,  77  ;  continental  wars 
of,  80 ;  Bef ormation  in,  81 ; 
political  power  of  merchants 
in,  106  ;  her  relations  to  Span- 
ish colonies,  108  ;  modern  his- 
tory of,  109-113,  128;  crises 
of,  109 ;  three  dominant  pas- 
sions in,  109,  110 ;  her  union 
with  Scotland,  111  ;  national 
policy  of,  111,  112  ;  colonies 
of,  112,  113,  131,  159,  169 ;  a 
maritime  power,  113 ;  com- 
pared with  Prussia,  116  ;  a 
colonial  power,  131 ;  in  1815, 
140 ;  continuous  development 
of,  141 ;  revolution  in,  144 ; 
Irish  question  in,  149 ;  in 
Africa  and  Asia,  159,  169  ;  her 
relations  to  Bussia,  158,  159  ; 
and  to  Portugal,  160;  princi- 
ple of  nationality  in,  163  ;  re- 
cent progress  of,  169, 170 

Epirus,  36 

Esthonia,  50,  126 

Eugene,  of  Savoy,  84 

Europe,  Greece  a  reduced  copy 
of,  2,  3 ;  succeeds  Christi- 
anity, 32  ;  her  two  regions  in 
the  ninth  century,  75,  76 ;  in 
the  fifteenth  century,  76-78  ; 
becomes  a  distinct  entity,  78 ; 
influenced  by  Germany  and 
Italy,  87 ;  the  principal  thea- 
tre of  her  mediaeval  history, 
95 ;  her  independence  saved 
by  France,  104  ;  her  new 
modern  States,  126 ;  her  three 
regions  in  modern  times,  129, 
169 ;  Eastern  part  of,  massed 
against  the  Western,  133 ;  de- 
struction and  restoration  of, 
138-141 ;  in  1815  and  1891, 142, 
145  ;  expansion  of,  158-160 ; 


178 


Index. 


her  relations  to  America,  170- 
172 

FATHERLAND,   of    Germany  and 
France,   not  in  existence    in 
the  seventeenth    century,  64, 1 
97 ;    created   by  the  French ! 
Revolution,  142 

Ferdinand  I.,  Emperor,  96 

Feudalism,  59,  61 ;  in  France, 
106 

Finland,  49,  50,  124,  126 

Finns,  46,  49,  122 

Flanders,  a  part  of  the  duchy  of 
Burgundy,  68 ;  count  of,  74 ; 
relations  of  England  to,  75 ; 
cities  of,  96 ;  France  ac- 
quires a  portion  of,  96,  97 ; 
under  Spanish  rule,  107 ; 
miners  of,  168.  See  Belgium 

Florence,  43,  44 

France,  her  attitude  toward  the 
Turks,  33 ;  separated  from  the 
Western  Empire,  37,  38 ;  ob- 
stacles to  unity  of,  41 ;  her 
progress  in  the  Rhine  valley, 
45,  57 ;  early  kings  of  58  ; 
mediaeval  history  of,  57-69 ; 
formation  of,  57-60 ;  expan- 
sion of,  60-62 ;  intellectual 
progress  of,  61,  62 ;  policy  of 
her  kings,  63 ;  her  relations  to 
England,  63,  64,  72,  75,  111- 
113 ;  patriotism  in,  64,  141, 
142 ;  increase  of  royal  power 
in,  64 ;  nobles  of,  64, 106, 142  ; 
her  acquisitions  in  Burgundy, 
65,  66 ;  shatters  power  of 
Burgundy,  68  ;  her  wars 
in  Italy,  68,  69 ;  compared 
with  England,  73 ;  in  ninth 
and  fifteenth  centuries,  76, 
77;  modern  history  of,  79, 
102-106,  128;  wars  of,  80; 
troubled  by  the  Reformation, 


81 ;  her  enmity  to  Austria 
and  Spain,  82 ;  her  policy  in 
Italy,  90,  92;  and  in  Ger- 
many, 92-94 ;  acquisitions  of, 
95-97,  103 ;  curtails  Belgium, 
99;  United  Provinces  form 
coalition  against,  101 ;  her  re- 
lations to  Switzerland,  102  ; 
her  victories  over  the  Haps- 
burgs,  102  ;  aids  Dutch  and 
Swiss  independence,  102  ; 
provincial  differences  in,  103  ; 
weaknesses  of,  103,  104 ;  for- 
eign policy  of,  104,  105  ;  de- 
cline of,  105,  133,  137 ;  colo- 
nial policy  of,  105,  159 ;  her 
attitude  toward  the  Haps- 
burgs,  105,  106 ;  relations  to 
Spain,  107,  129,  130  ;  in  the 
Rhenish  duchies,  114  ;  her 
allies  in  Germany,  119  ;  under 
St.  Louis,  127  ;  her  influence 
upon  modern  Europe,  138 ; 
revolution  of  1789  in,  138- 
144,  162,  163,  167;  principle 
of  nationality  in,  143-145, 
148,  156 ;  political  instability 
of,  144;  revolutions  of  1830 
and  1848  in,  144 ;  acquires 
Savoy  and  Nice,  151 ;  her  re- 
lations to  Italy,  151,  168,  170; 
and  to  Germany  (Alsacian 
Question),  155-157,  168,  170 ; 
in  Asia  and  Africa,  159  ;  pres- 
ent literature  and  drama  of, 
165 

Franche-Comte,  68,  96,  97,  107 

Francia,  Duke  of,  58 

Francia,  Rhenish,  76 

Francis,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  90 

Francis  I.,  King  of  France,  96, 
104,  105 

Franco-German  War,  154,  168, 
170.  See  Alsacian  Question 

Frankfort,  141,  154,  156 


Index. 


179 


Franks,  in  Gaul,  13,  16,  41 ;  not 
Romanized,  18 ;  mediate  be- 
tween ancient  and  mediaeval 
times,  19 ;  in  harmony  with 
the  Church,  19  ;  conquests  of, 
20  ;  dismemberment  of  Mero- 
vingian kingdom  of,  20 ;  of 
Austrasia,  22,  23 ;  their  alli- 
ance with  the  Papacy,  22-24, 
41.  See  Austrasia ;  Carolin- 
gians  ;  Merovingians  ;  Neu- 
stria 

Frederick  II.,  of  Prussia,  117, 
118.  121,  161 

Frederick  William  I.,  of  Prus- 
sia, 117 

French  language,  62 

French  Revolution,  134,  138- 
144,  162,  163,  167 

GAUL,  under  Roman  dominion, 
5,  6  ;  occupied  by  barbarians, 
16,  18,  23;  under  Charle- 
magne, 26,  27,  76 

Geneva,  91 

Genoa,  44 

George  III.,  of  England,  110 

Georgia,  126 

Germans,  invade  the  Roman 
Empire,  2,  11,  12,  15  ;  restore 
it,  12.  See  Franks,  etc. 

Germany,  part  of,  conquered  by 
Romans,  5 ;  under  Charle- 
magne, 26,  76 ;  separated  from 
France  and  Italy,  37,  38; 
united  to  Italy  in  tenth  cen- 
tury, 38  ;  mediaeval  history  of, 
38-40,  45-57  ;  no  imperial 
capital  in,  38 ;  her  princes 
combine  with  the  Papacy,  39  ; 
no  continuous  monarchical 
policy  in,  39  ;  her  connection 
with  the  Papacy,  39,  40  ;  an- 
archy in,  40,  43,  45,  87,  150; 
city  leagues  of,  40,  50,  88  ;  not 


predestined  to  be  divided,  41 ; 
a  battle-field  of  Europe,  43, 
89,  106  ;  expansion  of,  45-56  ; 
three  zones  of  expansion,  45- 
51 ;  her  relations  to  the  Scan- 
dinavians, 47 ;  subdues  Slavs 
of  the  Elbe  and  of  the  Baltic, 
47,  48,  131;  her  relations  to 
Bohemia,  48  ;  her  progress  in 
the  Northeast,  49-51 ;  and  on 
the  Danube,  51,  52 ;  resum6 
of  her  expansion,  52  ;  mediae- 
val limits  of,  52,  53  ;  her  rela- 
tions to  Burgundy  and  Lor- 
raine, 57 ;  diffuses  her  energy 
abroad,  60 ;  the  seat  of  the 
Empire,  62 ;  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  77 ;  in  conflict  with 
Turks  and  with  Slavs,  79 ; 
troubled  by  the  Reformation, 
81 ;  modern  history  of,  86-89, 
92-95  ;  decadence  of,  87,  88  ; 
her  progress  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  89 ;  loses  Alsace,  97 ; 
habit  of  waging  war  in,  106  ; 
no  kings  in,  116 ;  Prussia's 
position  in,  116, 117,  154,  155; 
allies  of  France  in,  119 ;  her 
princes  united  against  Aus- 
tria, 121 ;  the  mediaeval  fron- 
tier of  Europe,  122 ;  her  pro- 
gress toward  Russia,  123, 124  ; 
her  conflicts  along  the  Baltic, 
125  ;  in  modern  times,  128  ; 
colonization  of  Northeast  of, 
131 ;  her  relations  to  Sweden, 
132;  Napoleon  I.  in,  139;  in 
1815,  140,  141,  145  ;  principle 
of  nationality  in,  146-150, 154, 
155,  163 ;  her  relations  to 
Pan-Slavism,  149 ;  Emperor 
of,  visits  Italy,  152 ;  new  con- 
stitution of,  in  1866,  154  ;  her 
relations  to  France  (War  of 
1870,  etc.),  154-157,  168,  170 ; 


180 


Index. 


her  relations  to  Austria,  Rus- 
sia, and  England,  157,  170 ; 
in  Africa,  159 ;  her  quarrel 
with  Spain,  160 ;  matrimonial 
alliances  of,  160 ;  her  princes 
rulers  of  other  countries,  161. 
See  Austria  ;  Prussia  ;  Roman 
Emperor ;  Roman  Empire 

Gex,  91 

Golden  Horde,  127 

Gothic  art,  61,  136 

Granada,  70,  71 

Great  Britain.     See  England 

Great  Charter,  74,  110 

Greece,  civilization  of,  2,  3  ;  ge- 
ography of,  2,  4 ;  her  resem- 
blance to  Europe,  2,  3;  her 
cities,  3,  5  ;  her  colonies,  3,  5 ; 
Macedonian  conquest  of,  3 ; 
later  influence  of,  3,  4;  sur- 
vives in  the  Eastern  Empire, 
7,  8 ;  Slavs  in,  15 ;  under 
Turkish  rule,  37 ;  secures  in- 
dependence, 145,  146,  156 ; 
matrimonial  alliances  of,  160 

Greek  Empire.  See  Empire  of 
the  East 

Gilds,  80,  135 

HAINAUI/T,  68 

Halberstadt,  114 

Hanover,  house  of,  in  England, 

110,  116 ;   united  to  Prussia, 

154 

Hanse,  the,  50,  88 
Hapsburgs,  40,    48,  51,  54,   55, 

90-97,  99,  100,  102,  104,  105, 

119-122,  133,  157 
Havre,  105 

Hellenism,  influence  of,  3,  4, 7,  8 
Henry  II.,  of  France,  97,  104 
Henry  IV.,  of  France,  91,  103- 

105 

Henry  VIIL,  of  England,  111 
Herzegovina,  157 


Hesse-Cassel,  154 

Historians,  founders  of  states, 
147 

History,  characteristics  of,  an- 
cient, mediaeval,  and  modem, 
1,  2, 11,  12,  30-33,  79-86 

Hohenstaufens,  42 

Hohenzollerns,  55,  88,  114-116, 
118 

Holland,  acquired  by  the  house 
of  Burgundy,  68  ;  wars  of,  80, 
114 ;  formation  of  State  of,  99  ; 
decline  of,  101 ;  in  modern 
times,  128 ;  united  to  Belgi- 
um, 140 ;  separated  from  Bel- 
gium, 145.  See  Netherlands 

Holstein,  145,  154 

Holy  Alliance,  141,  143,  144 

Holy  Land,  50,  69 

Holy  Roman  Empire.  See  Ro- 
man Empire 

House  of  Burgundy,  67-69.  See 
Burgundy 

Hugh  Capet,  58 

Humanism,  135 

Humanities,  study  of,  165 

Humanity,  sentiment  of,  in  nine- 
teenth century,  142,  163,  168 

Humbert  I.,  153 

Hundred  Years'  War,  63,  64,  72 

Hungary,  early  history  of,  51, 
52;  Christianity  in/ 51,  123; 
conquered  by  Turks,  53,  122  ; 
her  relations  to  Austria,  54. 
119,  120-122,  131,  145,  149; 
formation  of  the  kingdom  of, 
77, 131 ;  in  modern  times,  128  ; 
secures  a  constitution,  145; 
national  feeling  in,  166 

Huns,  11,  12 

Huss,  77 

ILLTBIA,  121 
India,  94,  113 
Indies,  80 


Index. 


Industries,  transformed  by  po- 
litical centralization,  80 ;  an 
element  of  war,  163 

Ingria,  126 

International  law,  origin  and 
scope  of,  85 

International  papal  question, 
161 

International  parties,  in  modern 
times,  81 

International  relations,  modified 
by  modern  philosophy,  136, 
164,  165 

International  (Congo)  State,  159 

Intermediate  region,  between 
Germany  and  France,  56,  57, 
65-69,  95-97 

Inventors,    new    ideal   of,    162, 

164: 

Ireland,  72,  111,  149 

Iron  Crown,  92 

Islam,  158.     See  Arabs 

Istria,  15 

Italians,  in  Austrian  depen- 
dencies, 121,  149 

Italy,  geography  of,  4  ;  influence 
of  Rome  upon,  6 ;  occupied 
by  barbarians,  13, 14, 16  ;  con- 
quered by  Justinian,  14,  18^ 
separated  from  the  Western 
Empire,  37 ;  united  to  Ger- 
many, 38 ;  influence  of  the 
Empire  and  the  Papacy  upon, 
41-43,  45  ;  not  predestined  to 
be  divided,  41 ;  polyarchy  in, 
42,  43, 150 ;  no  Italian  nation- 
ality, 42  ;  pentarchy  in,  43  ;  a 
European  battle-field,  43,  89, 
106  ;  principalities  and  repub- 
lics in,  43 ;  her  expansion  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  43,  44  ;  the 
Renaissance  a  product  of,  44  ; 
cities  of,  44 ;  diffuses  her 
energy  abroad,  60;  Normans 
conquer  Southern  part  of,  61  ; 


relations  of  mediaeval  France 
to,  63,  69 ;  acquisitions  of 
Switzerland  and  Savoy  in,  66, 
67  ;  in  the  ninth  and  fifteenth 
centuries,  76,  77 ;  her  political 
manners  diffused  over  Europe, 
82  ;  the  birthplace  of  the  am- 
bassador, 82 ;  united  to  Aus- 
tria, 83 ;  modern  history  of, 
86-92,  128  ;  decadence  of,  87, 
89 ;  throneless  princes  pro- 
vided for  in,  90 ;  habit  of 
waging  war  in,  106 ;  Spanish 
possessions  in,  107,  108  ;  in- 
fluence of  French  Revolution 
upon,  138  ;  Napoleon  in,  139; 
dominated  by  Austria,  140 ;  in 
1815, 145  ',  principle  of  nation- 
ality in,  146,  150-154  ;  her  re- 
lations to  Piedmont,  150, 151 ; 
and  to  the  Papacy,  151-153 ; 
Mediterranean  policy  of,  153  ; 
in  Africa,  153,  159 ;  her  rela- 
tions to  France,  156,  170  ;  and 
to  Austria,  157 
Ivan  the  Terrible,  127 

JAMES  II. ,  of  England,  110 

Janissaries,  132 

Jerusalem,  kings  of,  61,  92 

Joan  of  Are,  33,  64 

Joan  of  Spain,  84,  129 

John,  King  of  England,  60,  74, 

110 

Joinville,  61 
Jury,  74,  110 
Justinian,  14,  18 

KAZAN,  khanate  of,  125 
Khirgiz,  country  of,  126 
|  Kief,  123 

Kings,  their  occupations  in 
modern  times,  84 ;  absence 
of,  in  Germany,  116 ;  decline 
in  importance  of,  161 


182 


Index. 


Knights,    52,    56,    61,    70,    135. 

See  Sword-bearers;   Teutonic 

Kniglits 
Kremlin,  166 

LABOR,  an  element  of  peace  and 

war,  162,  163 

Laisser faire,  doctrine  of,  136 
Languedoc,  acquired  by  France, 

60 
Latin,  spoken  in  the  fifteenth 

century,  77 
Leagues,  of  cities,  in  Germany, 

40,  50,  88 
Learning,  mediaeval  seat  of,   in 

France,  62 
Lettes,  50 

Lewis  the  German,  38 
Lewis  the  Pious,  56 
Liberals,  144 
Liberty,  political,  in  England, 

74,  109-111 ;  in  Europe,  143- 

145 

Liege,  bishopric  of,  67 
Literature,    of   France,   61,   62, 

165;    mediaeval  and  modern, 

135 

Lithuania,  121,  124-126 
Lithuanians,  46,  50,  122 
Livonia,  50,  124,  126 
Lombard  duchies,  41 
Lombards,  14,  21,  24,  26,  29,  41, 

152,  153 ;  bankers  of  France, 

44 

London,  164 
Lorraine,  57,  65,  67,  68,  90,  96 ; 

acquired  by  France,  97 ;  ced- 
ed to  Germany,  154-157 
Lothair,  Emperor,  56 
Louis  IX.  (Saint),  61,  127 
Louis  XI.,  68,  96 
Louis  XIV.,  83,  84,  96, 101,  103, 

107,  112,  127,  161 
Lubeck,  88 
Lusatia,  47,  55, 120,  122 


Luxemburg,  68 
Luxemburg  Emperors,  40 
Lyons,  65 

MACEDONIA,  3,  15 

Machiavelli,  43,  83 

Magdeburg,  acquired  by  Prus- 
sia, 114 

Magyars,  46 

Maine,  acquired  by  France,  60 

March  of  Austria,  54,  120,  133, 
157 

March  of  Brandenburg,  55,  120, 
133 

Marches,  established  by  Char- 
lemagne, 26 

Marcus  Aurelius,  142 

Margraves,  of  Lusatia,  47 ;  of 
Misnia,  47 ;  of  Brandenburg, 
48 

Maria  Theresa,  of  Austria,  86 

Maria  Theresa,  wife  of  Louis 
XT7.,  84 

Maritime  nations,  competition 
between,  80,  163 

Marius,  15 

Marseilles,  66,  105 

Mary  of  Burgundy,  84,  98,  129 

Matrimonial  politics,  83,  84, 129, 
147,  157,  160,  161 

Maurienne,  counts  of,  66 

Maximilian  I.,  of  Austria,  84,  98, 
129 

Mayors  of  the  palace,  22 

Mazarin,  84,  104 

Mecklenburg,  48,  55 

Mediaeval  history.     See  Middle 


Mediterranean,  claimed  by  Italy, 

153 
Mercenaries,  in   diplomacy  and 

in  the  army,  84 
Merovingians,  20,  22 
Metz,  96,  156 
Middle  Ages,  characteristics  of, 


Index. 


183 


11,  12,  30-33;  limits  of,  32, 
33  ;  guided  by  sentiment,  70  ; 
general  reflections  concern- 
ing, 75-78 

Milan,  43,  91 ;  claimed  by 
France,  83,  90  ;  Visconti  of,  90 

Minden,  acquired  by  Prussia, 
114 

Misnia,  47 

Missionaries,  in  England,  21, 
27 ;  in  Germany,  21,  52 

Modern  times,  characteristics 
of,  79-86;  wars  in,  80-86; 
"  grand  politics  "  of,  130  ;  im- 
portance of,  exaggerated,  130 ; 
manners  and  ideas  of,  134-137 

Monarchy,  universal,  83 

Money,  Italian,  44 

Mongolia,  in  Europe,  124 

Mongols,  in  Russia,  124 

Monroe  doctrine,  171 

Montenegro,  36,  146 

Montferrat,  91 

Monza,  92 

Moors.     See  Arabs 

Moravia,  122 

Moscow,  124 

Mussulmen.    See  Arabs 

NAMUK,  68 

Nantes,  105 

Naples,  kingdom  of,  claimed  by 
France,  83,  90;  kings  of,  90, 
92.  See  Two  Sicilies 

Napoleon  I.,  1*S  139,  152 

National  development,  31,  32, 
143-157 

National  individualism,  164-167 

Nationalists,  144 

Nationality,  principle  of,  143- 
155,  157,  162,  163 ;  definition 
of,  147 

Nations,  definition  of,  1,  37, 143  ; 
number  of,  1,  2  ;  new  concep- 
tion of,  142-144  ;  new  nations, 


145-147 ;  increased  impor- 
tance of,  161 ;  estrangement 
of,  164-166 ;  in  America,  170, 
171 

Navarre,  70,  71,  103 

Naxos,  35 

Netherlands,  duchies  and  coun- 
ties of,  67 ;  acquired  by  Aus- 
tria, and  by  Spain,  69,  96 ; 
ruled  by  Charles  V.,  96,  98 ; 
modern  history  of,  97-101 ;  re- 
volt of,  97-99  ;  division  of,  in- 
to North  and  South,  99 ;  the 
United  Provinces  as  a  Euro- 
pean power,  100,  101,  126 ;  in- 
dependence of,  102,130;  habit 
of  waging  war  in,  106 ;  rela- 
tions of,  to  France,  112,  156. 
See  Belgium ;  Holland 

Neustria,  20,  22 

Nevers,  68 

Nice,  151 

Nineteenth  century,  character- 
istics of,  138,  139,  147 

Nobility,  of  England,  73;  of 
France,  64,  106,  142 ;  of  Rus- 
sia, 128 

Normandy,  72,  73,  105 ;  acquired 
by  France,  60 

Normans,  in  England,  71-74  ;  as 
pirates,  72,  73 

North  America.    See  America 

Norway,  47.     See  Scandinavia 

Novgorod,  123 

ODOACEE,  13,  14,  25 
Orange,  princes  of,  100,  101 
Orders,  knightly.     See  Teutonic 

Knights ;  Sword-bearers 
Orleans,  22 
Ostrogoths,  14,  16,  18,  41 

PALESTINE,  50,  69 
Pan-Americanism,  171 
Pan-Germanism,  149 


184 


Index. 


Pan-Slavism,  149 

Papacy,  its  headship  of  the 
world,  17,  76  ;  sends  mission- 
aries to  England,  20,  21  ;  en- 
larges Europe,  21 ;  subject  to 
Eastern  Empire,  21 ;  secures 
control  of  Borne,  22  ;  its  alli- 
ance with  the  Carolingians,  22- 
25,  28 ;  gift  of  Pipin  to,  26, 

152  ;  its  influence  in  Western 
Europe,  27  ;  its  struggle  with 
the  Empire,  28,  31,   32,   40; 
debasement  of,  30,  31 ;  regen- 
eration of,  31,  39  ;  its  attitude 
toward  the  Turks,  33  ;    rules 
over  Western   kings,  34 ;    its 
influence  upon  mediaeval  Ger- 
many, 38-40  ;  and  upon  Italy, 
41-43 ;     its    attitude    toward 
Ostrogoths  and  Lombards,  41 ; 
principality  of,  41-43 ;    sum- 
mons Augevins  to  Italy,  42  ; 
universal  policy  of,  42  ;  Ital- 
ian policy  of,  42 ;  seat  of,  62  ; 
did  not  attack  Islam  in  Eu- 
rope,  70;    decay  of,   76,  77; 
mediaeval  functions  of,  76 ;  in- 
fluence of  Reformation  upon, 
81  ;  deprived  of  power  by  Na- 
poleon   I.,   139 ;    its    conflict 
with  the  King  of  Italy,  146, 
153 ;  recent   history  of,  151- 

153  ;  its  horizon  widened,  152 
Papal  question,  161 

Paris,  22,  164,  166;  university 

of,  62,  77 

Parliament,  in  England,  74,  110 
Parma,  91 
Patriotism,  in   France,  64,  141, 

142 ;  in  Russia,  158 
Peace,    rarity    of,    in    modern 

times.    86 ;    causes,   etc.,    of, 

162,  167,  168,  171 
Peace  of  Frankfort,  156 
Peace  of  God,  31 


Peace  of  Westphalia,  94 

Peloponnesus,  35 

Persia,  126 

Persian  Wars,  37 

Peter  the  Great,  127 

Philip,  son  of  Maximilian  I.,  of 
Austria,  84 

Philip  II.,  of  Spain,  83,  96,  99, 
112 

Philip  the  Fair,  60 

Philip  of  Valois,  63 

Philologists,  founders  of  States, 
147 

Philosophers,  frame  internation- 
al law,  85 

Philosophy,  mediaeval  and  mod- 
ern, 135 ;  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  135-137,  142,  164, 
165  ;  its  influence  upon  poli- 
tics, 136,  137 

Piedmont,  67,  91 ;  absorbed  by 
Italy,  150,  151 

Pipin  the  Short,  anointed  by  the 
Pope,  23,  28  ;  his  gift  to  the 
Papacy,  26,  41,  42,  152 

Plato,  142 

Poetry,  mediaeval,  28 ;  of  France, 
62 

Poitou,  acquired  by  France,  60 

Polabi,  46,  48 

Poland,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  46, 
48,  49,  51,  53,  55,  77,  131 ;  par- 
tition of,  86,  115,  118,  119, 
131-134,  139,  145,  161;  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  88, 
128 ;  her  relations  to  the  Teu- 
tonic Order  and  to  Prussia, 
114-116,  118,  120;  and  to 
Sweden,  116,  125,  132 ;  com- 
pared with  Prussia,  116 ; 
her  relations  to  Austria,  121 ; 
and  to  Russia,  122,  124-126 ; 
Christianized,  123 ;  attempt 
to  reconstruct,  140 ;  in  Ger- 
many, 154,  156 


Index. 


185 


Poles,  in  Prussia,  149 

Political  liberty,  in  England,  74, 
109-111 ;  in  Europe,  143-145 

Politics,  past  and  present,  130, 
160-162,  167 

Polyarchy,  in  Italy,  86,  87,  150 

Poraerania,  46,  48,  49,  51,  55, 
115,  120 

Popery,  hatred  of,  in  England, 
109 

Popes.     See  Papacy 

Porta  Pia,  152 

Portugal,  history  of,  61,  70,  71, 
80,  160 

Prague,  university  of,  77  ;  Treaty 
of,  154 

Principle  of  nationality.  See 
Nationality 

Protestantism,  during  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  93  ;  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, 99  ;  in  Germany,  117. 
See  Reformation 

Provence,  65 ;  Marquis  of,  74 ; 
inhabitants  of,  105 

Prussia,  Teutonic  Knights  in,  50, 
88 ;  mediaeval  history  of,  54- 
56,  124  ;  her  share  in  partition 
of  Poland,  86,  115,  118,  133 ; 
Duke  of,  88 ;  modern  history 
of,  89,  95,  113-118,  120,  121 ; 
her  union  with  Brandenburg 
and  the  Rhenish  duchies,  114  ; 
fusion  of  her  territories,  114, 
115  ;  her  rulers,  115  ;  her  re- 
lations to  Poland,  115,  116, 
118,  120 ;  her  duke  becomes 
king,  116,  117 ;  her  conflicts 
with  Austria,  117,  121 ;  un- 
der Frederick  William  I.  and 
Frederick  II.,  117,  118  ;  com- 
pared with  Austria,  120,  121 ; 
tangible  aims  of,  132 ;  prog- 
ress of,  133  ;  an  artificial 
State,  134 ;  in  1815,  141 ;  na- 
tionalities in,  148,  149;  her 


position    in    Germany,    154, 
155,  168 

RAVENNA,  8 

Reformation,  political  influence 
of,  80-83, 128  ;  in  Germany,87 

Religion,  an  international  ele- 
ment, 161,  164 

Renaissance,  influenced  by  Hel- 
lenism, 4 ;  favored  by  Italian 
polyarchy,  44 ;  political  influ- 
ence of,  82,  83  ;  born  in  Italy, 
87 ;  its  evil  influence  upon 
Italy,  87 

Rethel,  68 

Rhenish  duchies,  114 

Rhenish  League,  94 

Rhine,  "the  highway  of  priests," 
57  ;  region  of,  in  the  ninth  and 
fifteenth  centuries,  76, 77  ;  the 
route  from  Berlin  to,  115 

Richelieu,  97,  104,  105 

Roman  Emperor,  his  position  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  38,  40,  76  ; 
his  capital,  38 ;  election  of, 
39 ;  crowned  at  Rome,  39  ;  as 
German  and  Italian  King,  39  ; 
his  functions,  39,  76 ;  com- 
pared with  King  of  England, 
73 

Roman  Empire,  restored  by 
Charlemagne,  21-25 ;  its  rela- 
tions to  the  Eastern  Empire, 
25 ;  effects  of  its  restoration, 
26-29 ;  its  destruction  in  the 
ninth  century,  28,  30,  37;  its 
relations  to  the  Papacy,  28, 
31,  32,  39;  compared  with 
the  Eastern  Empire,  34  ;  re- 
stored in  the  tenth  century, 
38  ;  functions  of,  39,  45,  46 ; 
its  influence  upon  Italy,  41- 
43 ;  its  relations  to  the  pa- 
gans, 46,  47  ;  and  to  Bohemia, 
48  ;  and  to  Hungary,  51 ;  and 


186 


Index. 


to  Burgundy  and  Lorraine, 
57,  98  ;  its  seat  in  Germany, 
62;  decay  of,  76,  77;  kings 
in,  116  ;  headship  of,  attached 
to  Austria,  119  ;  its  relations 
to  the  Teutonic  Order,  124 ; 
destruction  of,  139.  See  Ger- 
many ;  Roman  Emperor ;  Rome 

Roman  law,  59 

Roman  question  in  Italy,  153 

Romania,  34 

Romans  in  Britain,  5,  13,  71 

Rome,  ancient  history  of,  4- 
15;  influence  of  Hellenism 
upon,  4 ;  her  dominion,  4-7  ; 
her  spirit  of  conquest,  4,  5  ; 
absorbs  other  nations,  5 ; 
compared  with  Greece,  5 ; 
her  later  influence  upon  Eu- 
rope, 6,  7,  27 ;  partition  of 
her  Empire,  7,  8 ;  causes  of 
her  fall,  8-10;  her  Empire 
destroyed  by  the  barbarians, 
12,  166 ;  respected  by  the  in- 
vaders, 13,  16;  Christianity 
under  her  rule,  16,  17  (see 
also  9,  10) ;  ancient  Rome 
compared  with  papal  Rome, 
27 ;  a  sacerdotal  and  universal 
city,  44 ;  given  to  Lothair, 
56 ;  seat  of  the  Papacy,  76 ; 
Napoleon  influenced  by  recol- 
ections  of,  139.  See  Roman 
Empire 

Roumania,  37,  121,  146 

Roumelia,  146 

Rousillon,  103 

Royal  marriages,  influence  of, 
83,  84,  129,  147,  157,  160,  161 

Royalty,  its  importance  dimin- 
ished, 161.  See  Kings 

Russia,  in  Charlemagne's  time, 
46  ;  her  share  in  partition  of 
Poland,  86,  126,  133  ;  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  89 ;  wages 


•war  in  Prussia,  114 ;  mediae- 
val history  of,  122-125  ;  Mon- 
gols in,  124;  modern  history 
of,  125,  126,  129  ;  characteris- 
tics of,  126-128;  mediaeval 
and  modern  civilization  of, 
126-128  ;  the  power  of  Tsar 
of,  127;  nobles  of,  128;  her 
relations  to  Sweden,  132 ; 
progress  of,  133 ;  in  1815, 
140 ;  Pan- Slavism  in,  149 ; 
her  wars  of  conquest,  157, 
158;  in  Asia,  159;  her  rela- 
tions to  England,  159  ;  recent 
progress  of,  159,  169,  170; 
her  matrimonial  alliance  with 
Denmark,  160 ;  principle  of 
nationality  opposed  to,  163 

ST.  HELENA,  139 

St.  Petersburg,  158 

Saint-Pierre,  Abb6  de,  137 

St.  Remi,  19,  23 

St.  Sophia,  158 

Saracens.     See  Arabs 

Sardinia,  44  ;  King  of,  89,  92 

Savoy,  origin  of  the  kingdom  of, 
66,  67;  progress  of,  69,  91, 
92 ;  loses  territory,  95 ;  ac- 
quired by  France,  151 

Saxe,  Marshal,  84 

Saxons,  on  the  Continent,  29 ; 
in  England,  74 

Saxony,  dukes  of,  48 ;  Elector 
of,  King  of  Poland,  116 

Scandinavia,  26,  46,  47,  49,  71, 
124,  125,  128,  131 

Schism,  separates  Constantino- 
ple from  Rome,  34,  125 

Schism,  the  Great,  32,  33,  76 

Schleswig-Holstein,  145,  154, 
156,  160 

Scholasticism,  61,  135 

Science,  mediaeval  and  modern, 
135 


Index. 


187 


Scotland,  72,  73,  111 

Scriptures,  interpretation  of,  61 

Sects,  in  England,  109 

Seneca,  142 

Servia,  14,  35,  146 

Seven  Years'  War,  137 

Siberia,  125 

Sicily,  7,  91,  92  ;  tinder  the  Ot- 
tomans, 36.  See  Two  Sici- 
lies 

Silesia,  46,  49,  55, 115,  118,  120, 
121,  161,  168 

Slave-dealers,  159 

Slavonia,  26 

Slavs,  2,  11,  12,  14,  15,  26,  36, 
37,  46-48,  53,  79,  120-123, 
127,  133,  146,  149,  158 

Snow-King,  132 

Sophia,  161 

Sovereignty,  a  property,  in  mod- 
ern times,  83,  162 ;  becomes  a 
magistracy,  136,  162 

Spain,  under  Koman  dominion, 
5,  6  ;  conquered  by  Justinian, 
14;  Arabs  in,  14,  36,  70; 
under  Charlemagne,  26 ;  her 
attitude  toward  the  Turks, 
33  ;  obstacles  to  unity  of,  41 ; 
Netherlands  joined  to,  69 ; 
mediaeval  history  of,  69-71 ; 
in  ninth  and  fifteenth  centu- 
ries, 76,  77 ;  wars  of,  79,  80 ; 
hostile  to  France  and  Austria, 
82 ;  united  to  Austria,  83, 
119;  her  policy  in  Italy,  90; 
her  armies  in  Germany,  93, 
114 ;  her  relations  to  the 
Netherlands,  97-101,  107 ; 
modern  history  of,  106-109, 
128 ;  her  conquests  in  Amer- 
ica, 107  ;  colonies  of,  107-109  ; 
government  of,  107  ;  her  re- 
lations to  France,  107,  112, 
129,  130 ;  attempts  to  reform 
her  government,  108  ;  in  1815, 


140 ;  her  quarrel  with  Ger- 
many, 160 

Spanish  succession,  90,  92,  104, 
107 

Stanislas  Leczinski,  90 

State,  definition  of  a,  37 ;  in- 
fluenced by  reform  of  Church, 
81 ;  in  ancient  times,  82 

Strasburg,  167 ;  acquired  by 
France,  96 

Stuarts,  112 

Sbyria,  118 

Succession,  Austrian,  92 

Succession,  Spanish,  90,  92, 104, 
107 

Swabia,  66 

Sweden,  accepts  Christianity, 
47  ;  acquisitions  of,  50,  124  ; 
in  fifteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  77,  88,  132  ;  her  re- 
lations to  Germany,  93,  94, 
114 ;  her  war  with  Poland, 
116  ;  people  from,  found  Rus- 
sia, 123 ;  her  power  on  the 
Baltic  coast,  125  ;  conquests 
of  Eussia  from.  125,  126  ;  am- 
bition of  her  kings,  132  ;  de- 
cline of,  132,  133.  See  Scan- 
dinavia 

Swiss,  the,  as  mercenaries,  102 

Swiss  Confederation,  origin  of, 
66  ;  progress  of,  69  ;  in  mod- 
ern times,  91,  101,  102  ;  prin- 
ciple of  nationality  in,  148 

Sword-bearers,  50,  52,  77,  131 

Sylla,  13 

TEUTONIC    KNIGHTS,    50-53,   55, 
77,  88,  114,  115,  118,  124,  131 
Theodoric,  14 
Theodosius,  8,  12 
Thessalonica,  35 
Third  estate,  in  France,  106 
Thirty  Years'  War,  93,  132 
Thuringia,  20 


188 


Index. 


Toul,  96 

Toulouse,  Count  of,  74 

Touraine,  acquired  by  France, 
60 

Tournaments,  135 

Towns.     See  Cities 

Transylvania,  121 

Treaties  of  1815,  141 

Treaty  of  Prague,  154 

Treaty  of  Verdun,  37 

Treaty  of  Westphalia,  102 

Trieste,  54,  118 

Tsar,  139,  149.     See  Russia 

Tsechs,  46,  48,  52,  121,  149,  166 

Turenne,  167 

Turgofc,  103 

Turkey,  loses  Hungary,  122 ; 
conquests  of  Russia  from,  125, 
126,  158;  progress  of,  128; 
at  the  close  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  131 ;  decline  of,  132, 
133 ;  in  1815,  140,  145 ;  dis- 
memberment of,  146 ;  nation- 
alities in,  149.  See  Turks 

Turks,  their  conflict  \vith  the 
Eastern  Empire,  35-37 ;  con- 
quer Hungary,  53  ;  their  con- 
flict with  the  Germans,  79 ; 
help  ruin  Venice,  89  ;  Hun- 
gary taken  from,  122 

Tuscany,  90 

Two  Sicilies,  kingdom  of  the, 
42,  61 

Tyrol,  54,  118 

UNITED  PROVINCES.  See-  Nether- 
lands 

United  States  of  America,  for- 
mation of,  113  ;  War  of  Inde- 
pendence in,  137  ;  assisted  by 
France,  156  ;  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  170,  171 

Unity,  political,  idea  of,  upheld 
by  the  Church,  20,  32 

Universities  of  Europe,  offshoots 


of  the  university  of  Paris,  62, 

77 

VALOIS,  county  of,  60 

Valois  kings,  63,  67 

Valromey,  91 

Vandals,  18 

Vasco  da  Gama,  89 

Vatican,  146,  151,  152 

Venice,  35,  36,  43,  44,  89,  156 

Vereingetorix,  7 

Verdun,  96  ;  Treaty  of,  37 

Vermandois,  60 

Versailles,    93,    106,    108,    115, 

154 

Victor  Emmanuel,  151 
Vienna,  132,  144,  158 
Visconti,  90,  96 
Visigoths,  13,  16,  18,  19 

WALES,  72,  73 

War,  its  causes  in  modern  times, 
80-86;  germ  of,  in  Italy  and 
Germany,  89,  150  ;  its  causes, 
etc. ,  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
147, 149, 160-171 

War  of  Austrian  Succession,  137 

War  of  Independence,  Ameri- 
can, 137 

War  of  Spanish  Succession,  92, 
107 

Wars  of  Roses,  109 

Warsaw,  140,  156 

Western  Empire.  See  Roman 
Empire ;  Rome 

Westphalia,  94,  168 

Wickliffe,  77 

William  II.,  Emperor  of  Gen 
many,  161 

William  the  Conqueror,  63,  72 

William  of  Orange,  101 

Wladimh1,  ruler  of  Russia,  123 

ZEALAND,  68 

Zeno,  Byzantine  Emperor,  13 


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